When Lightning Struck
by HeadMistress-Selena
Summary: Two American girls, get zapped into the Harry Potter reality, where they are powerful witches with the inside knowledge that thebooks give. Though both were born and raised in the U.S. they find themselves in London preparing for their 5th year.
1. Storm of Change

_**Chapter 1 - Storm of Change**_

**Part 1 - A Phone Call Away**

"Mom, I'm calling Mione!" A very curvy fourteen year old girl bounced through the kitchen in her permanently-under-remodeling/construction house her brown hair falling to mid-back and her bright topaz eyes sparkling. She was in an unusually bright mood and carrying her AT&T Phone Card. She slipped into her mother's room and grabbed the phone, quickly dialing the 800 number. When the machine picked up she spoke with it. "AT&T. For instructions in English, press one." She pushed the button. "Thank you for using AT&T prepaid phone service. Please shop again at Sam's Club. To call within the US, Canada, or the Caribbean, press one." She pressed one again, waited for the overly-cheerful voice to finish, and then dialed her best friend's number. The phone rang for once- it seemed that it was almost always busy- and Mione picked up. Meega couldn't resist the temptation. Putting on a fake British accent she said, "Hello, is this Ashley Green?" For once she managed to keep a strait face while she did that. This time it was going to work.

"Yes."

"I'm pleased to inform you that you have won a trip to London for you and one friend. This will be an unguided tour, so you may see London as you wish."

"Ha-ha, Mia."

"My name is not Mia," Meega said in mock-surprise, grinning. Mione couldn't pronounce her name. "I am Hermione Black." What the hey. It was the first name that came to mind- dropping Granger and Weasley, of course. Hermione was a fairly common name over there, wasn't it?

"Yeah, and I'm Ginny Malfoy," Mione said sarcastically.

Meega made a face. Trust Mione to use her least favorite pairing, bar SLASH. "I'm sorry, then. The trip is for an Ashley Green."

"No- I'm Mione- er Ashley," she said. Meega could tell that she was beginning to believe her.

"Well, then. What is your friend's name? The one you will be taking with you."

"Nikki- no, Mia er- well, I can't exactly pronounce her name. It's spelled M-e-e-g-a -space- K-y-l-hyphen-D-e-r-c."

"Nikkino Miaer?" Meega asked. It served her right for not picking her right off. "And you spell that M-e-e-g-a -space- K-y-l-hyphen-D-e-r-c?"

"No, I call her Mia because I can't pronounce her name. The spelling's right."

Meega burst out laughing. "Oh, I can't believe you fell for that! That's better than when I thought that 'Hail to the Chief' had words!"

Mione, of course, recovered quickly when revenge was in sight. "Hail to the chief, he's the chief so he needs hailing..."

"Of course!" Meega said. "What else would he do?" Both girls dissolved into giggles. When they got over them, Meega spoke again. "So- your time being older than me is almost up. Tomorrow I'll be fifteen, and then in another eleven months you'll be older again."

Lightning struck, and the two girls were hit, dead to their world.

**Part 2 - Death Gate**

Meega woke abruptly to a violent lurch. She had always been a heavy sleeper, but this was absurd! She was on a bed in what appeared to be a bus... in fact, if she didn't know any better she'd have said that it was the Knight Bus. She turned to look to the front and grinned. Whoever had decided to play this prank had done a good job. Two armchairs at the front, Ern and Stan how she pictured them, if about two years older.

"Mia, I want to know how you did this," a very familiar and very annoyed voice said from behind her. She turned around to see Mione glaring at her from the next bed.

"I didn't." She sat up and saw a trunk that had been under her bed but hadn't moved the same in the last lurch. "Apparently this one's mine." It had her name engraved on a plaque on the top. Another trunk was up against hers. "That must be yours. It' has your real name- Ashley Green."

"Uh-huh."

Meega shrugged. "This looks like fun. If we're not home by morning we check magic."

Mione gaped. "You're not suggesting that this might be real."

Meega shrugged again. "We got struck by lightening- or at least I did. Who knows? However, if we're not back I'll probably stop writing this off as hallucination and panic, then make the most of it." Mione snorted and Meega rolled her eyes, then swaggered purposefully up to the front of the bus and dropped down on an empty bed behind the driver. "I don't suppose I can see the paper?"

"Sure, Miss," said Stan, handing her the Daily Prophet.

She read the date: July 5, 1995. "I'll just take this back to my seat, eh?"

"Jus' bring it back," Stan said vaguely.

Meega returned to her bed, jerking her head for Mione to join her. They sat together on the bed, Meega at least mostly oblivious to the movement of the bus- and oblivious to whether Mione was or not. "Seven years ago," she said softly. "This would be Harry's fifth year. I'm beginning to doubt hallucination."

"Me, too."

Meega looked down from the date to the front page story.

**ORDER CLAIMS YOU-KNOW-WHO HAS RETURNED MINISTER DENIES POSSIBILITY**

_After the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory (the Hogwarts Champions) disappeared from the maze upon touching the cup. They both returned after their mysterious disappearance, but Cedric was dead. No one except perhaps Harry knows how Cedric died, and there have been whispers that the Boy Who Lived is mad. - Meega stopped reading and snorted. "Teenagers and the insane think quite the same. I don't know how that sentence fits together. He's no more mad than the rest of us, anyway." - These rumors also state that he is a Parselmouth - "Right on! This next part's way off, though." - and some even go so far as to accuse him of the murder. Harry is unavailable for comment, but Albus Dumbledore (head of the Order of Phoenix) says that he reports that the death is the work of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Or, rather, the work of a Death Eater wielding the Dark Lord's wand, namely Peter Pettigrew (dead fourteen years next Halloween, murdered by Sirius Black). - "This one's not a believer." - The Order holds that Black was not, as believed, the Potter's Secret Keeper and the betrayer. Instead they say that Pettigrew was used and murdered the twelve Muggles and faked his own death to escape from and frame Black. The Order also claims that the night of Cedric Diggory's murder You-Know-Who regained his body. Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge denies that this is possible and holds that Peter Pettigrew is dead and Black a murderer._

_- Mary Long_

"Not a hallucination," Meega said stiffly. She studied her friend, but could find no difference in her. Her hair was still short red tinted blond and she was still rather slender and animated. No change. "You don't look any different."

"Neither do you."

Meega could feel herself on the verge of panic, and so jumped on the first thing that came to mind to divert it. "I'm going to take the paper back, 'kay?" Mione nodded and Meega sauntered back up to the front. "Here's you paper," she said, handing it back to Stan and grinning. "Who are you siding with- Professor Dumbledore or Fudge?"

Stan shrugged, not looking at her.

"I'm with Professor Dumbledore- Voldemort's back." Ern and Stan both jerked around to look at her, an apartment building jumping out of the path of the Knight Bus... then another... and another. "Watch the road, and no, I am not mad."

Ern turned back around, white faced, but Stan continued to gawk at her. "'Choo say 'is name for?"

"Why, because there is no reason not to- and I enjoy the reaction I get out of those who are doing exactly what he wants by being afraid to speak his name." She grinned. "I have a very strong streak of mischief, and I have never really had an outlet for it before." She paused again, smoothing over her face, then mimicked Stan's accent. "You outta your tree? 'Choo not say 'is name for? Inee jus' mad? Mad 'e is, an' pow'ful. 'Choo madder for not sayin' 'is name!" Mione was laughing outright, and Meega made it all the way back to her bed before giggling hysterically.

Mione and Meega got off the Knight Bus at the Leaky Cauldron. Meega dug around in her trunk and found enough for her room all through July and August, as well as a key to a Gringotts vault. She motioned for Mione to look, and she did, also. It was late evening, so Meega slipped into her room (number seven) and dropped strait off to sleep. It had been a tiring day.

**Part 3 - Shop 'til You Drop**

The next morning Meega woke naturally around six - very early for her - dressed rapidly in dark green robes with a matching dust cloak fastened with silver, a silver necklace, ring, bracelet, anklet, and earrings. Then she slipped into Mione's room and woke her. "Up and at 'em, Mo!"

Mione groaned and sat up then peered at the clock beside her bed. "It's six fifteen."

"Yeah, and we have to get up earlier at camp. UP!"

Mione complied and Meega slipped down for breakfast. She was done by the time Mione got down half an hour later dressed in gold-trimmed scarlet robes. "Already dressing the Gryffindor."

"Sure."

"You'll probably end up there- though I don't know where I'll end up. I'd fit anywhere but Hufflepuff."

"And Slytherin," Mione grunted.

"No, I'd fit there," Meega said thoughtfully. "I'm cunning, ambitious, and arrogant- though very scrupulous. All my friends would be in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Hufflepuffs... well, maybe. But I'm not a hard worker and you know it."

"Mia, you had better not end up in Slytherin!"

"And you had better learn to pronounce my name. I can't have my best friend unable to do it. Me-gu. Me like me, myself, and I, then gu as in gutter. Me-gu. Meega. Emphasis on the first syllable."

"Megutter."

Meega giggled. "Drop the tter."

"Meega."

"Perfect. Last name - Kyl-Derc. Kyle-Dirt, except drop the t and add a c. Oh, and shorten Kyle. Kyl-Derc."

"Meega Kill-dirt."

Meega giggled again. "Long i, end with a c."

"Meega Kyl-Dirt-ka."

"Close. Drop the t."

"Meega Kyl-Derc."

"Got it! Now finish your breakfast. I'm going to see what all we've got."

"Sure."

When Meega came back down Mione had just finished her breakfast. "Basic school supplies, plenty of robes and cloaks, even dress robes. We can get wands, brooms, and pets, then wait for our letters. Here's your key." She tossed her friend a tiny golden key, then led her out back. Another witch had just arrived, so she opened the arch and the girls followed her through. "Gringotts first."

The two girls made their way through the already crowded street to the tall marble building at the end that was Gringotts Wizard Bank. Meega hurried Mione through the doors, pausing to peer quizzically at the inscription on the second set of doors before entering Gringotts proper. She practically dragged her friend up to an unoccupied goblin - not that she needed encouragement. "We'd both like to withdraw from out accounts," she drawled, her voice picking up all the southern accent she ever had. "I'm Meega Kyl-Derc." She handed the goblin her key.

"I'm Ashley Green," Mione said, handing over hers.

"These seem to be in order," the goblin said. "Griphook!"

Meega fought down giggles at the sound of the name of the goblin who had taken Harry down to his vault the first time. She heard some nearly escape Mione and delivered an elbow to her stomach, silencing her. She loved the cart ride, relishing in the sensation, and was disappointed when it stopped.

"This one is Miss Kyl-Derc's vault. Key please." Meega handed over her key and the goblin opened the door, revealing more money than she would have thought possible. She filled a dragon hide money pouch neatly with galleons, then pulled the drawstring shut and left the vault, noting the number. 279. She hopped neatly into the cart and enjoyed the ride to her friend's vault. The money inside seemed to match hers penny for penny- or, rather, knuts for knuts. She noted that vault number, too, as Mione stuffed her money bag haphazardly with galleons. 356. They returned to the surface then, and Meega insisted on getting their wands before anything else.

Ollivander's was every bit as musty as she had imagined with a heavy "library" feel, like one of those old, full libraries with the wonderful fantasy and science fiction section or sections, depending. Mione and Meega had a brief, quiet fight over who got the chair that ended with them both sitting on the little spindly thing and giggling softly. The ancient wizard entered and gave them a disapproving stare.

"Which of you would like to go first?"

"Me," Meega said, standing up so quickly that the chair over balanced and Mione hit the floor. She ignored her friend's glare.

"I don't recognize you, child. Where did you buy your first wand?"

"Didn't have one," Meega said smoothly. "We were learning the wandless stuff. American brand. I'm Meega Kyl-Derc."

"Ah," he said, his eyes bright. "Powerful magic is needed for that. Only a few have had enough that have come through here. Which is your wand arm?"

"Well, I managed to restrict myself to my right hand for writing, and I don't want to do that with my wand. I think the left is truly dominant, anyway."

"Then we'll do both," he said, looking more interested. He had the silver measuring tape measure her, pulling out wands from the shelves. "Here. Ebony and phoenix feather, thirteen and an eighth inches."

"Hmm..." Meega took the wand and waved it uselessly.

Mr. Ollivander snatched it back. "Yew and dragon heartstring, eleven inches."

Meega regarded the wand distastefully when she took it, then handed it back. "Nothing there, and it's not likely to be one with heartstring."

Ollivander kept trying wands, pleased that she was so difficult. Finally he handed her one that was warm. She waved it and it emitted red, blue, and green sparks, touched lightly with silver, gold, and bronze. She giggled. "It doesn't know, either."

"Hmm?" Ollivander asked, replacing the wand in its box. "This one's rowan and phoenix feather, fifteen inches. Very powerful and excellent for almost anything, though especially transfiguration and enchantments. It has an aversion to the Dark Arts, though. What doesn't it know?"

"Good," Meega said sternly. "Oh, and I have a theory that the wand emits sparks in the colors of the house you're suited for. It knows just as much as I do. Anything but Hufflepuff."

"Interesting. Seven sickles." Meega paid him. "You, miss."

Meega took the chair and Mione stood. "I'm Mione Green. Er- actually, my name's Ashley. Everybody calls me Mione, though."

"Hmm. Which is your wand arm?"

"Mmm... Right. My right."

Ollivander nodded and set the measuring tape to measuring Mione, then pulled down a wand. "Ebony and unicorn tail hair, ten inches."

Mione took it and waved it about a bit, then Ollivander snatched it back. They went through the same routine until- "Ebony and phoenix feather, twelve inches."

Mione grinned when she took the wand, and when she waved it red and gold sparks shot out.

"Excellent. Seven sickles and three knuts. As powerful as miss Kyl-Derc's, though different. It is strong in Charms. It also is against the Dark Arts- very poor performance there."

Mione nodded, grinning like a loon, and paid for her wand.

"That was intriguing," Meega said, grinning, after they left.

"Of course!" Mione said.

"Pets or brooms?"

"Brooms."

"Fine with me."

There was a crowd around Quality Quidditch Supplies. Meega slipped up beside a hot guy who was about nineteen. "What did I miss this time?"

The boy turned to gape at her. He was really good looking! "You haven't heard that the Firebolt II has come out? It's better than the original! A guy on my school team had one for our last year. A Firebolt, anyway."

"Really?" Meega said, grinning. "I hear that they're amazing to fly. I've never been allowed on a broom before myself." She pouted slightly.

"Oh," the boy said, looking bored.

"I'm from the U.S. so I've been a little cut off from Quidditch. I was following Puddlemere United. They signed on a good player last year for their reserve team. Oliver Wood."

"I'm Oliver Wood," the guy said, smiling. Oh, he was really hot!

"I'm Meega Kyl-Derc. People call me Mia, though, 'cause a lot of them can't pronounce my name. This is my best friend, Ashley Green." She pulled Mione over by her. "People call her Mione."

"Really? Do you play Quidditch?"

"'Fraid not," Mione drawled.

"Oh."

"I want to, though," Meega said, smiling sweetly. "Unless I can't stay on a broom, of course."

"Oh, flying's not that hard," Oliver said smoothly.

"Really?" Mione asked, not to be out done. "I'm sure you're wonderful." Meega giggled. Mione was being so obvious!

Wood, however, was clueless and pleased with the compliment. "I'm fairly good," he said modestly.

"We're transferring to Hogwarts this year," Meega said abruptly.

"Really? What house do you think you'll be in? I," he puffed himself up slightly, "was in Gryffindor."

Meega giggled. "Mione's going to be in Gryffindor, but I don't know where I'll be. I'll fit anywhere but Hufflepuff."

"No one is good for Gryffindor and Slytherin," Wood insisted.

"I am," Meega said stiffly. "I'm brave and intelligent and arrogant, not to mention ambitious and descended from Muggle nobility. At least I think they were Muggles. Charlemane, Peppin, the like. The Holy Roman Emperors."

"I see," Wood said, backing off slightly. Mentally, that is. One couldn't scare a Gryffindor so easily.

"Good," Meega sniffed. "I am who and what I am, and I am going to go buy myself a broom. Though probably," she grinned at Oliver, "I won't end up in Slytherin, as I'm Muggleborn."

Mione rolled her eyes and dragged Meega away. "Now you've gone and done it."

"He deserved it," Meega sniffed. Then she grinned evilly. "He's really hot, though."

"Mmm-hmm," Mione agreed.

When Meega looked out the shop window it was obvious that Oliver had heard them- he was distinctly red and smiling.

Mione was looking at the different brooms, but Meega didn't even have to think about it. "I'd like to purchase a Firebolt II."

"Certainly, miss. 250 galleons."

"Hmm. Don't have that much with me." She perked slightly at the thought of getting to ride in the cart again.

The shop keeper, however, chuckled. "No one ever does. Just leave your account number and name, sign for the amount, and the goblins take care of everything."

"Oh." She picked up a quill and wrote her name and vault number, then the price and signed her name.

"Hmm... Kyl-Derc? You must be Muggleborn."

"Rather," Meega said shortly, snatching the box containing her new broom from the witch.

"Now, don't let anyone touch it before you've flown it for about an hour," she warned. "If it thinks that it's some one else's than your out of luck."

"Of course," Meega said politely. "Mione, which are you getting?"

"Firebolt."

"200 galleons."

She walked over and wrote her name and vault number and the price under Meega's, then signed. "Lets go- maybe we can see Wood again on our way out."

The clerk hummed appreciatively. "He is quite good looking, isn't he? Comes around here a lot."

They did see Oliver on the way out, but Meega hurried them off to the Magical Menagerie. When they came out he was no where to be found. Mione had a half-Siamese cat and a snowy owl and Meega had a small menagerie: a small, thin, short-haired black queen cat with large yellow eyes, a shaggy black puppy that reminded her of Sirius Black, and a raven.

"They're not going to let you take all three of them, Mia," Mione said pointedly.

"Where does it say that you can only have one pet?" Meega asked. "Besides, yours isn't even a loophole."

"I suppose it doesn't." She grinned. "I'm not the first to break rules, you know."

Mione named her cat Siamie and her owl Sir Uric van Licktenstine. Meega named her cat Bageria, her puppy Sirius (of course) and her raven Nevermore.

**Part 4 - School Shopping**

Five week passed and they received their Hogwarts letters. Meega read hers quickly.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

_of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

Dear Miss Kyl-Derc,

We are pleased that you have chosen to transfer to Hogwarts this year. As a fifth-year student you will be preparing to take your O.W.L.s and if you are not up to the classes then you will be moved to the appropriate year. Enclosed is a list of the necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

_Deputy Headmistress_

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

_of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

uniform

Fifth-year students will require:

1. Three sets of plain black work robes

2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear

3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)

4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)

5. One set dress robes

Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags

course books

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

_The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 5)_ by Miranda Goshawk

_A History of Magic_ by Bathilda Bagshot

_Magical Theory_ by Adalbert Waffling

_An Advanced Guide to Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch

_One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ by Phyllida Spore

_Magical Drafts and Potions_ by Arsenius Jigger

_Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander

_The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ by Quentin Tremble

_Unfogging the Future_ by Cassandra Vablatsky

_The Monster Book of Monsters_ by Marcus Mutt

other equipment

1 wand

1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 telescope

1 set brass scales

Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad

"We have everything but the books and uniform," Meega said when she finished the letter.

"You know, you don't have to rub it in," Mione said.

"What?"

"That you read so much faster than me!"

"Oh. Sorry, forgot about that. Hmm..."

"Why does that scare me?"

"Because I'll do that, or something similar, and then something that you term 'evil'."

"Oh, yeah," Mione said sarcastically.

"Let's go shopping the day before term starts," Meega said mischievously.

"Why?"

"Because that's when Harry's gang usually goes."

"Ah."

Two weeks later the girls were in Madam Malkin's when a slender boy of average height about their age came in. He had messy black hair and astonishingly green eyes. Meega nudged Mione, who was facing the other way, and nodded towards the boy. She didn't need to see the identifying scar to know that that was Harry Potter. "He's not bad looking, either. Not scrawny anymore."

Mione nodded vaguely.

"I bet he grew over the summer. I bet he's taller than me. Barely."

"Hmm."

Madam Malkin brought Harry to a stool near theirs and Meega turned to Mione and whispered, "Who's starting out as the fawning fan?"

"You," Mione said, recoiling slightly. "I hate that part."

"Yep, and that always leaves me with the first chance at them. Really, I don't like the part, either." She turned to Harry and said (slightly breathlessly), "You're Harry Potter, aren't you?"

"Yes," Harry said tolerantly.

Meega grinned. "I'm Mia, and this is Mione. Actually we're Meega and Ashley, but she couldn't pronounce my name and started calling me Mia and she's called Mione as a shortened form of the female lead's name in our favorite book series. Though I'm really more like the character." She put on an absolutely angelic expression. "Except I'm much more... hmm... mischievous. Oh, and sorry about my little fawning thing. We start out like that whenever we run into a well-known person. Really, it's what most of them expect. A lot of them even like it. And," she grinned evilly, "it insures that I get to start the conversation. Mione likes doing it less than I do."

Harry gave a tight, guarded smile, obviously because he knew a smile of some sort was expected. It took Meega a moment to figure out what was wrong, but it was obvious when she did. It had only been about two months since the Third Task.

Mione, however, was glaring at Meega and didn't notice. "It's not like meeting Harry Potter is an every day occurrence."

"Will be, though," Meega said, grinning. Then she turned back to Harry. "We're transferring to Hogwarts this year. Mione, at least, will definitely get in Gryffindor."

Harry made a vague non-commentary noise.

Meega snorted. That was a first. Usually it was her being an anti-vocal pariah. Unless Mione was around, of course. Then she was very... loud. Very loud and very hyper. "I got a little black puppy recently," she said as an attempt at conversation. "I named him Sirius."

Harry stared in disbelief. "Why'd you name him that?"

Meega shrugged, thinking fast. She couldn't exactly tell him that she was from another world where he was a character in a book and so she knew that his godfather was innocent and had a shaggy black dog for an Animagus form. "It just seemed to fit."

Harry raised an eyebrow, obviously having noticed her hesitation. Stupid thing to do, mentioning the puppy.

"He's really quite sweet. He's an absolute charmer." As soon as the words were out of her mouth Meega wished she hadn't said that. From what she'd picked up the real Sirius was, too. But Harry might not know that... or make the connection.

As if on cue Mione joined the conversation again. "She seems to have found a loop hole and is taking three animals. The puppy, a cat named Bageria, and a raven she named Nevermore."

"Why Nevermore?" Harry asked sounding halfway interested.

"'Quoth the raven, nevermore,'" Meega quoted. "It's probably the most common line in Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven."

"Ah."

Just then Mione and Meega were finished and had to leave for Flourish and Blotts.

When they entered Meega stopped suddenly. "I don't believe it."

"What?" Mione asked vaguely.

Meega pointed. Hermione and Ron were standing across the store talking to none other than Oliver Wood.

Mione grinned. "I was hoping that we'd run into him again."

"Of course you were," Meega said a little sourly. She was fairly certain she'd made an absolute fool of herself when they'd talked the first time. Not to mention the fact that he'd overheard their opinion of his looks. "I'll just talk to Hermione."

Meega led them over and smiled at Hermione, pointedly ignoring Oliver. "Hi, I'm Meega Kyl-Derc and this is Ashley Green." Mione glared at her. "Everyone calls her Mione, though. We're transferring to Hogwarts this year and seem to need _The Monster Book of Monsters_. I don't see it here, though. Do you know if they carry it here?"

"No!" the shopkeeper screeched hysterically. "We carried them once two years ago and it was once to many!"

Meega suppressed a fit of giggles. "Are you sure you don't have two copies left?"

"We don't!"

Meega shrugged. "We'll check a used book store after we get the rest of our books. Oh, and does anyone know a good Muggle bookstore?"

"I do," Hermione said immediately. "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, and this is Ronald Weasley. That's Oliver Wood."

Meega nodded. "Mione and I met Oliver outside Quality Quidditch Supplies about a month and a half ago. I don't suppose you could give me directions to the bookstore? I'd like to drop by before we go to Hogwarts."

Mione's conversation was amusing. "We just saw Harry Potter at Madam Malkin's," she was saying. Not that Oliver would be impressed.

"Really? I was looking for him."

Mione nodded energetically, smiling, and Oliver glanced at Meega, who turned back to Hermione quickly.

Hermione looked amused by her behavior, but gave very good directions to the Muggle book store and offered to show her to a good Wizarding one. Meega accepted her offer and quickly picked up her books, but stopped before she got to the counter to look at something particularly intriguing. A thick book with a scarlet dragon hide cover and gold lettering read: _Scales and Shards_. The sign by it claimed that it was: _An inclusive book on the breeding and raising of dragons. Fifteen galleons. _Odd that one should find a book on raising dragons when it had been illegal for centuries. Smiling slightly she picked it up and placed it among her school books. The shopkeeper lifted an eyebrow at that selection, but didn't comment.

Hermione showed Meega to the used book store, the pair of bookworms practically dragging along the three boys. Harry had joined them shortly after the girls had arrived and Oliver was talking to him. Mione had to come and didn't particularly mind with Wood joining them. Mione just picked up a copy of _The Monster Book of Monsters_—there were several, probably from people who had graduated since Hagrid had taken on Care of Magical Creatures and had been eager to rid themselves of the book. Meega carefully selected the copy that was in the best condition with a feeling she was taking the alpha book and started navigating the dangerously high stacks and shelves of books. She picked out several fiction selections, but was unable to find the high fantasy and science fiction that was her favorite. There was some books with magic, but it was the stuff they really worked, and so was more like books set in the real world for Muggles. The only elves referred to were house-elves, and the dragons weren't intelligent in the least. Fantasy and science fiction was obsolete in a world with magic. Or, at least, to the rest of the Wizarding society. She wanted her Orson Scott Card and Terry Brooks and Patricia C. Wrede and J. K. Rowling... Well, she was living that one. But Robert Jordan and Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey! That was only skimming the iceberg, too. Or, rather, the tip of it. Whichever. She hadn't even mentioned Timothy Zahn! Meega sternly told herself to quit. She'd just keep remembering authors. Like Gail Carson Levine and Andre Norton and Madeleine L'Engle.

Meega managed to drag Mione away from Oliver, who grinned at the younger girl as they left. Meega blushed, but they were already practically out the door, so none of Harry's group- and especially not Oliver- saw. She hoped that he didn't try to get her to date him. Some boys seemed to view her as a challenge, as, unlike most of the other girls her age, Meega was still untouched and had never even had a boyfriend. It was a sad thing to be a rarity in something like that. Maybe here she wouldn't be. There was always Mione. They were both cases of "Never Been Kissed" by choice. Though that might not be an accurate comparison, as she'd never seen the movie. J. R. R. Tolkien! How could she have forgotten?

Meega and Mione deposited their purchases in their rooms then Meega dragged her friend off to the used book store that Hermione had directed her to. She pounced on several of the books, including book three in the Star Wars Jedi Academy Trilogy. She had only ever been able to find books one and two before. She also picked out Mercedes Lackey's trilogy about Talia: _Arrows of the Queen_,_ Arrow's Flight_, and _Arrow's Fall_. It was one of her favorites, and she wasn't about to let it lie there and collect dust. _Fire Rose_ soon joined her stack, followed by several books from the Wheel of Time series—though not as many were out in 1995 as in 2002. It would be a very long time before she could buy book ten. At least the cover art had been finished when she left! She spent every penny of Muggle money she had—well, it wasn't pennies in London, but the shop keeper had helped her sort it out. Anyway, she left the shop with a healthy collection of books at closing and then returned to The Leaky Cauldron with her friend. Tomorrow would be a big day.


	2. On To Hogwarts

_**Chapter 2 - On to Hogwarts**_

**Part 5 - To King's Cross Station**

When Meega woke the next morning it was early- again- though she was perpetually not a particularly early riser, but rarely slept past nine. She brushed out her hair, tying it up in a ponytail, and slipped into her school robes and a black dust cloak - a few Muggles dressed that way, anyway. She hadn't been able to, really, or she probably would have. She left her hat in her trunk, though. She really didn't see why they had to wear Muggle clothes, anyway, as they wouldn't know what it meant.

Meega went to wake up Mione but almost ran into her on the way to her room. She was carrying a bucket of feathers that she'd gotten somewhere and a fan. Meega eyed it suspiciously then started giggling. "It's a good thing I woke up first!"

The girls went down to breakfast and weren't particularly surprised to see most of the Weasley family there. It seemed they had decided to have Harry join them at the Leaky Cauldron since they couldn't have him stay over at the Burrow that summer. Meega and Mione took a table near them for breakfast.

About half way through the meal Oliver showed up again. The girls noticed him at the same time, and a single glance at Mione's face forced Meega to bite her lip to keep from letting out the laughter that was shaking her. The look on her face was absolutely priceless. Too bad she didn't have a camera.

Hermione, who had just finished her breakfast, got up after a short exchange and joined them. She gave Mione an odd look and Meega started laughing out loud. After a moment she'd managed to stop and smoothed an innocent, unruffled expression over her features, her topaz eyes twinkling behind her glasses with more than firelight. Hermione gave her a withering look, then spied the book tucked away near her.

"Star Wars?"

Meega smiled mischievously. "Both of us are Muggleborn and my dad was really big on Star Wars, Star Trek, and just about anything Science Fiction or Fantasy. It rubbed off on my siblings and me. I've been trying to find this book for ages."

"Really? I watched Star Wars before I got my letter, but it lost what little hold it had over me soon after."

Meega nodded empathetically. "I used to read a series about a boy who found out he was a wizard on his eleventh birthday and that rescued him from the people who had raised him." She pointedly ignored Mione's incredulous look. "It lost its allure recently." Well, that wasn't exactly a lie. Who needed to read Harry Potter when they were going to Hogwarts? Though it would be fun to have the books with her...

Hermione nodded. "How are you two getting to King's Cross?"

Meega held out a hand to silence Mione and said, "I was just going to get us a taxi, I suppose."

Hermione snorted. "Easier said then done. Oliver's taking the six of us, but we can fit two more if you want to come with us."

Meega heaved a sigh of relief. "That would be great. If you can handle a small menagerie, that is."

Hermione looked confused. "There's only the two of you."

Meega smiled in a very feline fashion. "I've found what seems to be a loophole, so I've got a cat, a puppy, and a raven, and Mione has decided to break the rules from the start. She's bringing an owl and a cat."

Hermione looked disapproving. "I don't see how you can just disregard the rules like that!"

"I'm not," Meega pointed out. "I'm just bending them to fit my purposes. Mione's the one who shatters them."

Mione glared at her best friend. "See if I ever speak to you again."

"Oh, come off it," Meega said with a grin. She turned to Hermione. "I give her half an hour before she thinks of something she has to tell me." Mione looked faintly insulted, but, sure enough, she had taken up conversation with Meega again before the half hour was up.

Meega somehow ended up in the front seat with the other three girls in the middle and the four boys smashed in the back. Sirius was curled up on the floorboard at her feet, Bageria had draped herself over Meega's shoulders, and Nevermore was preening himself on the perch in his cage, which was between the front two seats. Oliver was a good driver and managed to keep a light conversation going despite the fact that Meega's defensively shy personality was coming back into play. He asked her politely about her animals, told her about Quidditch from a view she'd never been exposed to before, and chatted about the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers he'd had. The "jinx" apparently had come into play seven years ago, when Quirrell had gone off to get first hand experience. When asked he told her that his favorite had been Professor Lupin, which didn't surprise her at all. Before long they had arrived at the station.

**Part 6 - Why Nine and Three Quarters?**

The group quickly made their way to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. It was interesting, coming out of the Muggle station with its new trains into a Wizarding platform with an old steam engine. This would be Meega's first time on a train- unless you counted the one at the zoo. That wasn't the same thing at all. She'd also been on elephant and camel rides at the zoo when she was very young... San Antonio until she was two, then they moved and would go to the Henry-Doorley. They moved again when she was six and they rarely went to the zoo, and when they did it was the Kansas City Zoo, but hadn't made it to the Saint Louis yet. She'd have to go to some around here over the summer. Why in the world was she thinking about zoos?

"Well, I suppose we'll find ourselves a compartment," Meega said a little wistfully. Hermione was really nice despite her stiff nature.

Hermione whispered something to Harry, who gave the girls a level gaze and nodded. "Why don't you sit with us?" Hermione asked.

Meega hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Thank you," she said warily, her theoretical shell coming up again. The eight students tucked away their trunks and piled into a compartment along with the three owls, three cats, the puppy, and the raven just before the train left.

Nevermore was easily as annoyed by Pigwidgeon as Hedwig was, but somehow less dignified. Obviously less dignified, really, as he was snapping at him through the bars of the cage. Meega giggled, then produced a square of black cloth from somewhere and covered the tiny owl's cage. "Somehow, I don't think Nevermore would appreciate having to listen to the little guy all the way to Hogwarts." She poked her fingers between the bars to stroke his soft head as he settled, his eyes closing to slits. "Sweet, isn't he?" She pretended not to notice Ron looking at her as though she was crazy.

Bageria leapt onto Meega's shoulder and meowed. The girl laughed at the young cat's antics and nuzzled her pet. "You're sweet, too." She set down the cat in her seat. "Now, where's Sirius?" She looked around, then spotted the little ball of black fur under a seat. "Ah-ha!" She dove under the chair and emerged a moment later with her puppy. She returned to her seat, shifting Bageria to sit down with the sleepy puppy. "Mione, do you have Siamie and what's-his-name - Sir Uric van Licktenstine?"

"Yes, Mia," her friend answered slightly sarcastically. As always Meega ignored her friend's sarcasm.

Sirius stretched and yawned on her lap, then turned over and snuggled into her before going back to sleep. Meega giggled and stroked the puppy's long shaggy black fur. "You'd think that he'd know we were going somewhere and wake up," she said fondly. "Cute, though."

Hermione, Ron, and Harry had to go to their Prefect meeting, and Fred and George started setting up a trap for them when they came back. The lunch trolly came while they were gone, and when they returned a sudden shower drenched them, but they dried off as quickly. In the same moment Oliver had entered the compartment with a pretty girl of about seventeen with long blond hair and blue eyes.

"Now that I've found her, I think I'll tell you all that I'm teaching seventh year Defense Against the Dark Arts and kind of overseeing the rest of the years."

"Who's going to teach the rest of us?" Ron asked.

"Me," the girl said with a small smile. "I can't really teach the seventh years since I am one and some less...um...mature... students would have problems learning from someone in their own form. Oh, and my name's..." She paused as though unsure of her name.

"Go ahead and tell them," said Oliver grinning widely as if teasing her about something. She glared at him with her blue eyes creeping more toward a stormy gray shade, though still definitely blue. When his grin only grew wider she gave a sigh of defeat and quickly spat out a string of seemingly nonsensical syllables that sounded as if they were in a foreign tongue.

"Huh?" asked Ron intelligently. An embarrassed blush was turning her cheeks a pretty shade of rose, but she repeated her self more slowly.

"Xochiquetzal Ixchel Nymph Morrigan Eros. A bit of a mouthful, isn't it?" she said apologetically. With a shake of her head she continued, "You can call me Nymph, or I guess Morrigan so long as you don't get it mixed up with the name Morgan. Though I suppose during class I should have you call me Ms. Eros." The last was said with a look of disgust. "Maybe not. So what are your names?"

Meega nodded politely when it was her turn. "My name is Meega Kyl-Derc, this," she indicated the sleeping puppy in her lap, "is Sirius, the cat is Bageria, and the raven is Nevermore." Her posture dared anyone to challenge her about her abundance of pets. No one did.

"Very beautiful." Nymph said, stroking the raven's sleek black head with one finger and looking at the bird in fascination. "I like birds," she said gravely as if explaining something.

"See," Oliver said. "That wasn't so hard. They didn't laugh or anything. I told you they wouldn't."

"So you did." She turned a pair of wide and innocent blue eyes on Oliver in a look of adoration that appeared so quickly as to be obviously fake. "And I wouldn't have done it for anyone but you Ollie," she said in mock awe. Then she gave him a mischievous grin and quickly threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek before leaving the compartment in a way that was somewhere between flouncing, floating, and dancing.

They all sat and stared at Oliver for a moment as his ears turned a shade of red to rival the Weasleys' hair. Some one broke the silence with a cough.

"Uh... well then, that's your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Oliver said to cover his blushing. "She's a nice girl and very good at that subject, even if she does seem a bit... odd."

Then Oliver settled in with Harry and the Weasley boys, leaving Ginny and Hermione chatting together. Meega took out a pad of paper and started doodling, halfway listening to the boys chatter about Quidditch. Oliver, apparently, was going to help train the new captain and the new Keeper, and Ron was going to try out for Keeper. Meega grinned: he'd be disappointed in that if she could use her broom properly. She would be the new Keeper, not Ron. Mione, of course, would want to be a Seeker. Too bad Harry already had the position. She wouldn't change her mind and be Keeper, because she was busy talking to the other two girls.

Then Meega looked at her paper, realized what she had drawn, and started giggling. It was Platform Nine and Three Quarters, complete with the Hogwarts Express. Except there was a banner over the engine that read:

_Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business._

_Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git._

_Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a professor._

_Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape a good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball._

She'd done a fairly good job of recreating the handwriting, too, in her opinion. A professional forger would do a lot better, but it was fairly good. And it had a nice border.

Drawn by her giggles, Mione peeked at her picture, read the banner, and started sniggering. She was soon joined by the other two girls, who both started laughing.

"I don't know, but it's got to be funny if Hermione's laughing," Meega heard Ron say, and then he suddenly swiped the picture. He glanced over it, saw the banner, started laughing, and passed it to Oliver. Oliver started laughing and passed it to one of the twins, who passed it in turn to the other, and then it was passed to Harry.

Meega stopped giggling as he read the banner, then gave her an odd look. "When did you meet Snape?"

"You mean there is one?" Meega asked innocently.

Harry nodded. "There was also a group at Hogwarts that went by the names Moony, Prongs, Padfoot, and Wormtail."

"Oh," Meega said softly. She really hoped she hadn't slipped too badly. "I was just drawing and listening to you all talk. Maybe someone mentioned them."

"Perhaps," Harry said. It was clear he didn't believe her.

"So," she said brightly, "why is it Platform Nine and Three Quarters? Why not Nine and a Half?"

Ron shrugged and Harry looked blank. Fred and George had their heads together and had recovered the picture, and Oliver had just left. Mione and Ginny looked faintly interested, but it was Hermione who answered, of course.

"I don't know," she said slowly. "It's right between platforms nine and ten, so why is it three quarters?"

"My point exactly," Meega said. She slipped off to Fred and George. "I'll just take this back. We wouldn't want the real Snape getting his hands on it, now would we?"

"Yes, we would," one twin said.

"No, we wouldn't," Meega repeated. If it wasn't that Harry would be the top suspect, she might be tempted. "One would hope that he's not as bad as he's made out to be in this. Though the only one that comments on his teaching ability is Mr. Padfoot's."

As the words came out of her mouth Padfoot bounded into the compartment and the puppy in Meega's arms woke up and wriggled out of her arms.

Part 7 - Sirius and Sirius 

"Sirius, sit!" Meega's attempt to halt her pup's progress towards the much larger dog failed horribly. It did, however, cause Sirius Black to stop mid bound and fall back on his haunches. Meega sighed as her little ball of fluff continued to bounce over to the other dog and attempt to get it playing. Suddenly she gave out a trill which was followed by a series of clicks. Little Sirius stopped playing and hurried happily back to Meega, who scooped him up immediately. "Sirius," she told the puppy, "you are supposed to sit when I tell you to. You are not allowed to jump to the floor from this high. You'll hurt something." She placed her puppy on the floor. "Now you can go play with Mr. Black if he doesn't mind." She looked at the "dog" quizzically. "That does seem to fit... but so does Padfoot... maybe even Snuffles. Or Onyx or Blackout or Grim." She smiled, remembering a fanfic she'd read that involved Chocolate Frog Famous Wizard Cards of Harry... one had had Sirius in his Animagus form with baby Harry. "Not a babysitter, though." Sirius was playing nicely with the little puppy, being careful not to hurt the little one. "Well, maybe. That's just-"

"Don't say it," Mione advised.

"Of course," Meega agreed. "Don't you think he looks like a Grim, though?"

Mione nodded, grinning.

Sirius Black picked up Sirius Meega's puppy by the scruff of his neck and pranced over to Meega, Fred, and George like a proud father dog, then set down the little fur ball at Meega's feet. Meega grinned and knelt down to scratch his ears and give him a hug, then scooped up little Sirius. Padfoot stuck his head in the circle to look at the picture, then made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. He looked at Harry, who nodded towards Meega, who pasted an expression on her face that said, "No, Mr. Padfoot, I did _not_ write _that_."

Mione, however, had done some quick thinking. "It's a shame that more people don't trust Professor Dumbledore," she said idly. "If he _says_ that Sirius Black is innocent, then he _is_. If he _says_ that Voldemort is back, then he _is_."

Meega gave her friend a quick grateful smile. "It's not like he has any reason to lie about it," she said nonchalantly. "If Voldemort wasn't back no one would want to say he is! And wasn't he close to the Potters? He wouldn't want Black going free if he had betrayed them!"

"I wonder why he was laughing when the Magical Law Enforcement arrived."

"For Peter Pettigrew to be alive he'd have to out smart Black, somehow, especially if he really was trying to kill him. That's perfectly feasible assuming that Black knew that Peter had been the Potter's Secret Keeper. From what I've been able to pick up Sirius Black was _very_ loyal to his friends and Peter Pettigrew wasn't particularly intelligent or powerful. I'd laugh too, at the sheer irony of the situation!" She stretched and the loose sleeves of her robes fell, revealing her forearms. Mione got the message and pushed up her sleeves casually. Meega settled in her seat to make it clear that she had no intention of leaving.

Sirius Black, who had been sitting by Harry, shook off his godson's hand and trotted forward to lay his nose on Meega's leg by little Sirius's head and started off on a string of barks, yips, and growls. Little Sirius listened intently, then answered. The two dogs conversed for a while, and then Padfoot nodded, took a few steps back, and transformed. Meega managed to bite back a smile and look surprised, but she had a feeling that Mione's gasp was genuine.

Sirius, however, picked up the pad of paper with the picture and handed it to Meega. "I believe this is yours."

"Yes," Meega said levelly.

Sirius smiled. "It's very good—especially the banner."

Meega smiled back nervously.

Sirius, however, didn't notice. Meega's puppy had jumped off her lap and was running circles around his legs, jumping up on him and barking happily.

"I think Sirius has found himself a playmate," Meega said lamely.

Sirius laughed and scooped up the little puppy then scooted over to a corner with Harry. Between the distance and the puppy punctuating the conversation with barks Meega, who was the closest, could only make out tiny bits.

"... news about..." (Bark!)

"No. Harry..."

"... just do nothing."

(Bark! Bark!) "... nothing we can..."

"... Peter Pettigrew?"

"... less than..." (Bark! Growl! Bark!)

"... sure... safe..."

"Of... (Growl!)... not your fault."

"Whose..."

"No one... just Voldemort (Yip!) and... Eaters. If... Wormtail!" (Bark! Growl! Yip!)

Hiding a smile Meega stopped listening and pulled _The Eye of the World_ out of her trunk.

Part 8 - Hogwarts... and the Wheel of Time 

When they arrived at Hogwarts everyone filed slowly out of the compartment and out onto the boarding platform. "Firs' years an' transfer students this way!" called a very... large... voice that Meega had no trouble identifying as Hagrid's.

"Hello Hagrid," Harry said, echoed by the others. "This is Meega and Mione. They're two of the new transfer students."

"Aye." He smiled brightly at the two girls who were rather unimpressed by Hagrid's size... or, at least, Meega was. She was ignoring Mione for all practical purposes to resisting the temptation to start whispering to her. "An' have you met your Defense teacher yet?"

The groups stood shuffling their feet trying not to be the one to answer that question. Ron lost. "Well, yes, but she seems a little... off... if you know what I mean."

Hagrid raised a huge bushy eyebrow in surprise. "Off? Well I met her when she came to get aquatinted with Hogwarts durin' the summer and she's not crazy. That's for sure. She's a bright girl. Might even be a match for our Hermione. But now you'd better run along and find those carriages. Your new friends can find a boat." With that Hagrid turned and started shouting directions to the first years and the few transfer students who were milling about.

Meega and Mione slipped into a boat together, but realized immediately afterwards that the boat was already occupied by Morrigan. She sat perfectly still at the opposite end of the boat with the hood of her cloak pulled up so that she would have been invisible if the hood hadn't been in danger of falling off. She was staring at the sky, her right index finger slowly tapping the tip of her nose. Sirius, now returned to the form of a big black dog, slipped into the boat as well and pretended to be her pet as it appeared that she hadn't brought one. Her left hand reached out and absent-mindedly began scratching him behind the ear and Bageria, who had refused to give up her perch on Meega's shoulder, started purring more loudly.

Suddenly she turned, almost sloshing water into the boat. Her hood fled its precarious perch and settled around her shoulders and her pale hair reflected the moonlight so that it glowed like a halo around her. Her eyes were wild, like a deer or feral cat whose eyes plainly tell you that they are completely free but also that they are not particularly dangerous unless you do something particularly stupid. "I must tell you something. It is very important that you hear this, though at the moment I do not know why." In that moment she looked so like a moonlit goddess that the two eagerly awaited her words, whatever they might be. She leaned forward conspiratorially, drawing the other girls forward as well with her urgent secretiveness. Then she whispered in a voice as grave as if pronouncing death and barely audible over the lapping of the waves on the side of the little boat. "I am not what I seem." She paused a moment, then in all seriousness said, "I am the Dragon Reborn." Morrigan let her words sink in before turning slowly forward again, her left hand returning to scratching a now slightly confused big black dog. Her right hand pulled the hood back up, further than before so that her face was hidden in shadow and then rested in her lap as her gaze returned to the stars.

Meega and Mione just sat there for a moment, completely stunned. That had to be the _last_ thing Meega had expected! Well, it probably took second place to "I am Lord Voldemort."

"The _what!_" Mione finally whispered to Meega.

"The Dragon Reborn." Meega replied automatically, trying to figure out what had just happened and why a witch knew about the Wheel of Time. "You know, from the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan." Mione shook her head, but Meega was still trying to sort things through and didn't notice. Finally, she gave up and decided to have a bit of fun. "I didn't think that the Wheel allowed False Dragons after the Dragon was truly reborn," she said in a whisper loud enough for the girl to hear. Ignoring Mione's blank look she continued in a musing tone at a normal volume. "Of course, having a _female_ False Dragon would only add to poor Rand's women troubles." She gave an amused grin. "Not that having a woman and another man in his head helps."

_That _got Morrigan's attention. She turned a carefully blank look on Meega over her shoulder. "The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills," she said cryptically, an oddly mysterious glint in her eye.

The students arrived at the Castle and were taken through the corridors by Professor McGonagall to the room off of the Great Hall where she gave her normal speech. Then she slipped off into the great hall, presumably to see if they were ready for the students yet. While she was gone, Peeves decided to make an appearance. He swooped down through the students, cackling. The students in his path shrieked and ducked out of the way as quickly as they could. He pulled up directly over the center of the crowd. "Ickle beasties come to learn magic?" Peeves laughed and made a rude noise. "No rain this year. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Ickle firstie beasties look so sweet soaked." Peeves attempted to look thoughtful for a moment before pulling out a pair of water balloons and smiling evilly. "Peeves help!" He launched the balloons into the crowd, catching a pair of first years in the face, then continued tossing water balloons.

"Objection!" Meega half-shrieked over the discord as she dodged a balloon. "I'm not a first year and it's too cold for a water fight!" Peeves ignored her and continued throwing balloons.

One nearly hit her and broke on Mione, spraying her with water and causing her to scream. "That water is blasted _cold_!"

"Peeves!" cried a voice. He stopped short in front of a tall, dark cloaked figure. "I hear that a few years ago one of the teachers stood up to you. Leave now if you do not want the incident repeated." It was Morrigan - completely calm and completely dry. Peeves shrieked in anger as much at her defiance and dryness as at the reminder of Professor Lupin. He launched seven or eight larger than average balloons at her and she started to raise her wand.

Meega had had enough. She knew wandless magic as a result of the Death/Coma Gate and she used it to change the course of the balloons. "Take that!" she yelled after him as he tried to outdistance the balloons, shaking her fist at him.

Morrigan raised an eyebrow at Meega, then raised her wand the rest of the way and dried hall and students with a few well chosen words. Then Morrigan turned to one of the first students to be hit and handed him a few tissues to stop the nosebleed he'd gotten. Next she handed another to a girl who had been crying and put her arm comfortingly around the first year's shoulders while she calmed down.

"She's bonkers," whispered Meega to Mione. Mione agreed, staring at her newly dried robes. Meega had avoided getting wet at all. Then Professor McGonagall came back and led them into the great hall, having no idea what had just happened.


	3. Adjusting

_**Chapter 3 – Adjusting**_

**Part 9 – The Sorting**

The Great Hall was absolutely enormous. Like collage auditorium sized, except not terraced with balconies and theater seats and a stage. Just an enormous open area with four long tables down it and another one, not quite as long, across the front. That would be the High Table. There was a stool with the Sorting Hat on it in front of the table where the entire hall could see it and the new students were lined up behind the High Table where they couldn't see the staff properly. The hall was silent, watching the hat expectantly, and after a moment it began to sing.

Which house do you belong in,

Master Wizard, Mistress Witch?

Perhaps you belong in Gryffindor,

Home of the Lion-Hearted.

Or maybe you're a Ravenclaw,

If you're a clever pupil.

Hard workers go to Hufflepuff,

And if you are not found

Fear Not!

There is one more: Slytherin,

Lair of those with great ambition.

I haven't once been wrong.

So place me now upon your head,

I'll tell where you belong!

The entire hall erupted in applause. Well, except for a few slightly green sorties. Meega bit her lip to hold back a fit of laughter, remembering a fan fiction she had once read. To the Archy house for those with queasy stomachs! Professor McGonagall stepped forward and instructed the students to come up and try on the Hat when their name was called, unrolled the scroll, and read off the first name.

"Balrog, Morgianna."

It was one of the three transfer students that Meega and Mione hadn't met. She appeared to be another fifth year, though she could have been anywhere from the third year to the seventh year. She had shimmering ebony hair that was slightly longer than Meega's and bright violet eyes. She would have been amazingly beautiful, but she had a exceedingly arrogant air about her that dulled her looks. She smiled in a half arrogant, half seductive manner at the hall before placing the tattered Sorting Hat on her head. It took a shockingly short amount of time for the Hat to decide. "SLYTHERIN!"

"Cassandra, Falon."

A little first year girl slipped warily up to the stool. "RAVENCLAW!"

"Clint, Gregory."

Another first year. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"DeMon, Alexander."

This one was French, a transfer student, probably in the second or third year. "HUFFLEPUFF!" Who would have expected that when he had a last name like DeMon?

"Eros, Zoo… Zoe… Xoch…" Meega grinned at Professor McGonagall's inability to pronounce "Xochiquetzal".

Morrigan was already up there and put a hand lightly on the Deputy Headmistress's arm. "It's all right, Minerva," she said softly, then took the Hat before McGonagall got over her shock.

For the first time that night the Hat said, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The shaken Transfiguration Professor read off the next name. "Frank, Lori."

A first year. "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Frank, Robi."

A first year girl, identical to Lori. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Green, Ashley."

Meega smiled as the Hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" Mione would have wanted to be awful to the Hat, and she didn't have time for much. She was simple: she wouldn't accept being in any house but Gryffindor. There was some chance she'd flat out leave Hogwarts. A very small chance, seeing as how much she loved the books…

"Herro, Jupiter."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Inez, Margaret."

Another transfer student. Meega had a bit of trouble placing her age, though she had that unmistakably mixed breeding that signified an American. "RAVENCLAW!"

"James, Mat."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Jerry, Sam."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Kent, Kyle."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Kyle-Derc, Mega."

Meega winced at her mispronounced name, but went up to the stool. "It's Meega Kyl-Derc."

Minerva McGonagall looked annoyed, but nodded. "Excuse me. Kyl-Derc, Meega."

Meega nodded and sat on the stool, placing the Sorting Hat neatly on her head.

"Hmm… difficult… It's been a few years since I've had someone who was much of a challenge, or suitable for more than two houses."

_And that would be…_

"Hmm? It was a boy in your year. Does it really matter who?"

_Yes. Was it Neville Longbottom?_

"Yes. Now be quiet."

_Why?_

"So that I can Sort you!"

_Oh. Hey, do you know that joke that Dubledore was going to tell last year?_

"Yes, that _is_ interesting, how you and your friend are from another reality. I'm afraid I don't know anything about the joke."

_Oh. Did you hear the one about the Agnostic Dyslexic Insomniac?_

The Hat sighed. "I can read you mind, you know. 'He laid awake at night wondering if there really was a Dog.'"

_Mm-hmm. So, let's get to Sorting. I can fit anywhere but Hufflepuff._

"Will you shut up?"

_No. Why would I want to do that?_

"Aargh! Let me work! Now: Ravenclaw. You are quite intelligent, though sometimes you drop the clever… frequently, actually. You have the most appalling collection of useless rubbish floating around inside here."

_Hey!_

The Hat ignored her. "And Gryffindor! There's a lot of bravery there, and some nobility. Hmm… And Slytherin… Arrogant, self-serving, greedy, selfish-"

_Most people are, and you're being redundant._

"Shut up, #$ it!"

_I didn't know you could swear._ It was interesting that he did, if offensive.

"I picked up a few things over the years. It's the first time I have, though."

_Sweet! Anyhoozles, I'm ambitious, arrogant, brave, slightly noble, self-serving, smart, occasionally clever, and a perfectionist. And not lazy, but not a hard worker, either. Oh, and Muggleborn._

"I hadn't noticed," the Hat said dryly. "Now let me figure out which House you go in."

_How did you get this job?_

"Has anyone ever told you that you're horrible?"

_Hmm… I don't rightly know… Thank you!_

"If you're going to be that way then it better be HUF-"

_Do it and you won't survive._

"All right, all right," the Hat grumped. "Just be quiet!"

Meega complied, but not for more than a few minutes. _Are you done yet?_

"No!"

_Oh. Okay._ There were a few more minutes of silence. _Now?_

"No! …Wait… I've got it! SLYTHERIN!"

Meega pulled off the Hat and joined the Slytherin table, grinning at the look on Mione's face. Not to mention Harry and his group. She wound up between Morgianna and a fairly good looking blond boy with amazing gray eyes. She smiled at the boy, then turned her attention back to the Sorting.

"Marks, Aryan."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Notes, Ben."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Pantry, Elizabeth."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Porter, Mark."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Potts, Lenore."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Quinn, Lenora."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Raven, Lenori."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Ravens, Matt."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Stephens, Jamie." A boy.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Tall, Megan." Actually she was short, even for an eleven year old.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Vincent, Mary."

"RAVENCLAW!"

"White, Zebi."

"RAVENCLAW!"

Zebi, a decidedly small girl, joined the Ravenclaw table and Professor Dumbledore stood to speak to the gathered students. "Welcome to another year of schooling! Due to the return of Lord Voldemort-" Insert shocked noises here… "-we are taking a few extra precautions. You are to stay on the school grounds at all times- there will be fewer Hogsmeade weekends." …And upset noises here… "However, on the school grounds everything will remain as it has been in past years." …And happy noises here… "I'd like to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, Professor Oliver Wood-" …And clapping here, especially from Gryffindor… "-and a student professor, Professor Xochiquetzal Ixchel Nymph Morrigan Eros." …And sniggers and polite clapping here. "Now, let's dig in!"

Food appeared on the table, causing Meega to gasp. She'd been expecting it, but it was still slightly startling. Everything else magical that she'd seen was there and solid, or simply enchanting like the ceiling, but that was just… sudden. She didn't like it when things just happened without any warning whatsoever. It made her nervous. Shrugging it off, Meega ate, practically gulping it down like she always did, though stiffly using every particle of etiquette that her mother had insisted on teaching her and her two brothers and three sisters. It helped her not be quite as nervous about the impression that she was making on her new classmates.

**Part 10 – The Slytherins**

The next morning Meega woke to her annoying magical alarm clock before any of the other girls. Of course, that was perfectly understandable as they'd still been gossiping when she'd gone to sleep at midnight and showing no signs of slowing. It seemed that they had been integrating Morgianna into their little circle while she had been reading… and sleeping…

Sighing, Meega pulled on an emerald long sleeved shirt and black pants and her Hogwarts robes then black boots that hugged her calves nicely and ended just before the knee, even though no one would see them under her robe. Then she sat down in front of the silver vanity between her elegant mahogany wardrobe and the finely crafted four poster that she occupied, it's emerald canopy and curtains edged in silver, hiding the green and silver bedding on the soft feather mattress. She pulled out her hairbrush and one of her half-dozen jars of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. She'd decided to try it on her impossible thick deep brown locks that had a very major tendency to tangle even to the point of matting, since it worked so well on Hermione's. By the time the other girls woke with an hour before class she had managed to tame her hair. It had taken an entire jar of the potion to get it where it was going to stay neat and untangled. She could see why Hermione thought it was too much for every day.

"Ooh, Meega!" Millicent Bulstrode squealed. "What did you do to your hair?" It did look a lot better, all sleek and shimmery, not near as bushy as usual, it's darker than mid-brown light mahogany more pronounced.

"I used and entire jar of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion on it," Meega answered smoothly. "So there's only the four Slytherin fifth year girls," she mused. "And… five boys?"

Pansy Parkinson smiled. "Six boys."

Meega raised an eyebrow. "There's Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise Zabini, and Nott. Who else?"

"Morag MacDougal."

"What's Nott's first name?"

"Adam."

Meega raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. One of the last names she'd expect for the son of a Death Eater. "Which one is the blond with the lovely gray eyes?" If it was Morag or Blaise…

"Draco," said Pansy, looking slightly feral.

"Oh!" Meega said, recoiling. To think she'd been dreaming about _Draco Malfoy's _eyes! "Oh, of course!" How embarrassing was that? Meega put on her oval glasses, the frames exceptionally thin and a silvery black, and swung on her jet black Hogwarts robe, placing her hat neatly on top of her head. "Are any of you ready to go? I'm hungry, and I'm afraid I'd get lost going up from the dungeons to the Great Hall."

"In a minute…" Millicent said, arranging her hat carefully on her coarse brown hair over her very made up face. "There." She picked up her book bag and smiled at Meega, who forced herself to smile back as soon as she'd swung her emerald book bag onto her shoulders.

As they passed through the common room Meega studied it carefully. She'd been very asleep when she'd gone through the night before. It was blessedly dim and currently quiet, the gray stone adorned with emerald hangings. In fact everything in the room that wasn't stone or wood was either green or silver or both. There was a fire gong in the fireplace, but the room was still chilly. That could be a problem, as she absolutely hated being cold…

Millicent knew her way around Hogwarts very well and got them to the Hall in no time, where their schedules were being passed out. Meega read hers as she ate faster than normal, feeling a little like a Sayia-Jin. "We've got double Potions with Gryffindor first this morning," she said between mouthfuls. "That means I get to see Mione straight off. After that is DADA, and then we've got Care of Magical Creatures with Gryffindor this afternoon. Overall, it sounds like a good day."

"Who's Mione?" Millicent asked.

Meega swallowed and said, "Ashley Green. We've been best friends for years, but she got Sorted into Gryffindor last night and I'm in Slytherin…" she trailed off and shrugged, finishing off her breakfast. Just then Mione bounded over… well, not exactly… Meega was the one who occasionally bounded around, not Mione. Anyway, Mione joined her then, plopping down between Meega and Millicent. Except she didn't _plop_, either.

"Hey, Mia! We've got Potions with slimy Snape first."

Meega looked amused. "Think very carefully where you are, Mione."

Mione shrugged. "I don't care, Mia. What are they going to do in front of the entire staff?"

"Nothing, and probably not later, either, unless you insulted someone in their hearing. 'United' is not the best way to describe Slytherins. But 'vengeful'…" Meega gave her friend a mischievous grin.

Mione rolled her eyes. "Come on, we'll be late."

"We'll be later if we don't wait for Millicent," Meega said, nodding to the girl on the other side of her friend. Mione glanced at the girl, looking a touch disgusted.

"Harry and Hermione and Ron are waiting for us."

"Okay." Meega shouldered her bag and went with Mione to join Harry's trio. "My password's currently Parseltounge," she told Mione in an undertone on the way. "Drop by sometime."

Just then they reached the trio and Mione fell into the conversation, Meega more hovering on the edge than actually a part of the group, occasionally throwing in a comment. When they got there several of the students from both Houses were already there, but Snape was nowhere to be seen. Typical. He liked his entrances… perhaps a bit too much.

Five minutes after class was to start, however, Snape still wasn't there and the class was restless to the point that Meega could feel the chaos about to burst, like a dark storm cloud blocking out the sun. Of course, the dungeon walls did a very good job of it…

Suddenly the storm cloud burst with a clap of thunder as the door slammed open and a slender form stalked in with a stack of papers. It was Morrigan, looking vampiric despite her pale hair. She also looked very cross as she began to read off the top paper. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I- Oops! Wrong one!" She shuffled her papers and started again. "Ten points from Gryffindor!" She glared at the paper and muttered something that was too quiet to hear properly, though Meega was fairly certain she'd heard Snape mentioned. "Sorry, wrong one again." She shuffled the papers again, gave up, and tossed them on the desk. "Okay, I don't see anything in there that I'm supposed to teach you. I'm Professor Xochiquetzal Ixchel Nymph Morrigan Eros and I'm substituting for Professor Snape while he's off wherever, as I'm specializing in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions. So today we're going to learn how to correct potions that didn't turn out right."

Meega grinned, eyeing Neville. He was not only easy to pick out, but looking very relieved. Which was probably because he needed it very badly.

"First, however, I'm going to call roll." Morrigan pulled a paper out of the pile and began reading names. The Slytherins were all on first, and alphabetical order had been dragged off somewhere and shot.

"Nott, Adam."

"Here."

"MacDougal, Morag."

"Here."

"Bulstrode, Millicent."

"Here."

"Parkinson, Pansy."

"Here."

"Malfoy, Draco."

"Here."

"Severus has told me that you're his star pupil, Draco. What's the most difficult potion you can think of?"

"Er… Polyjuice Potion."

"Oh, really, Draco? A bunch of second years could do that." Every Gryffindor started sniggering, as did Meega. Harry's trio, Meega, and Mione, were laughing the hardest. A trio of second years _had_ done it.

"Crabbe, Vincent."

"Huh?" The sniggers increased and Morrigan was smirking.

"Goyle, Gregory."

"What?" A few of the Gryffindors looked as though they might fall off their stools.

"Zabini, Blaise."

"Here."

"Balrog, Morgianna."

"Here."

"Kyl-Derc, Meega."

"Present." Usually she was the one to ask, "What?"

"Potter, Harry."

"Here."

"Weasley, Ron."

"Here."

"Granger, Hermione."

"Here."

"I've heard that you three are nothing but trouble. Hermione, what's the most difficult potion _you_ can think of?"

"Transmogrification Potions."

Morrigan blinked. "Oh. That's the one we're doing today."

All the students gasped. If that was the most difficult potion Hermione could think of…

Morrigan ignored them and continued with the roll. "Brown, Lavender."

"Here."

"Longbottom, Neville."

"Here," he squeaked, sounding terrified, probably because of the difficulty of the upcoming potion.

"Patil, Parvati."

"Here."

"Thomas, Dean."

"Here."

"Finnigan, Seamus."

"Here."

"Green, Ashley."

"Mione."

"Yes, of course," Morrigan said, unfazed. She scribbled something on the roll and turned to write the recipe on the board. It seemed to be a fairly simple recipe, though Meega was sure that there was a hitch if it was the most difficult potion that Hermione could think of. "I want all of you to mix that up- it's very quick. Then we'll see how to fix it."

Meega read through the recipe carefully, muttering it to herself like she did when she was working her Algebra 2 homework during her freshman year. She didn't know if she'd done it before that, but it seemed to be carrying over into her magical studies. She gathered her ingredients and measured them carefully, then mixed them as carefully as she could. However, when she was done it was a revolting shade of fuchsia (not that any shade wasn't…) instead of what Morrigan had described as a lovely opalescent black color. Unless she had meant fuchsia and was despairingly colorblind… which wasn't likely. Meega checked the list again, searching for "black dye" or the like.

Morrigan waited until most people were done then quickly checked the potions. She seemed very satisfied with the runny, sloppy, smelly, and off-color potions. "I'm glad I was able to choose a potion that was beyond the abilities of everyone here, though some of you were surprisingly close. Now, to be able to correct your mistakes you must understand a few things. First of all you must know what the potion is supposed to do, as well as the purpose of each ingredient. Can anyone tell me what transmogrification potions are for?" She turned a rather disturbing gaze on the class. Surprisingly, it was _not_ Hermione who raised her hand first, but Neville. Morrigan raised an eyebrow. "Neville, would you tell the class what the potion is supposed to do?"

"Er… Is it supposed to change stuff into other stuff?"

"Are you asking me or telling me, Neville?"

"Er… telling. It's supposed to change stuff into other stuff." Morrigan gave Neville another very disturbing look for a moment, as though waiting for him to correct a mistake in his answer.

"Very good. Ten points to Gryffindor for the correct answer. As Neville so eloquently stated, it changes stuff into other stuff. The potion we have made changes water into a non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice. Normally we would change it into wine, but… I believe all of you are underage?" Her expression was one of amusement as she continued by explaining the purpose of each ingredient. Those who had laughed at Draco were taking extensive notes, but a quick glance at the other Slytherins told Meega that they were slacking as usual. She snorted. Draco would be loosing his place as "star pupil" quickly with a Slytherin actually working in potions.

"It's very much like cooking… the Muggle way, of course. You can use ingredients from your potion, and occasionally a few that aren't, to correct problems. The trick is in choosing an ingredient that won't react badly with what you're making. For example-in cooking flour, cornstarch, and tapioca are all thickening agents, but you wouldn't dream of using tapioca to thicken runny gravy. You would one of the other two, preferably whatever you had tried to thicken it with in the first place." The analogy was quite obviously lost on most of the students. However, it seemed to help one or two and most surprisingly it helped Neville. His eyes shone with understanding and even excitement as he added a few ingredients to his cauldron and stirred quickly. Morrigan and a few of the other students watched on with interest, many of them expecting an explosion of some sort, and soon his potion thickened and turned from a hideous orange to the required shade of black.

"Huh. It looks okay, lets test it." Morrigan produced a glass of water from somewhere and added a couple drops of the potion. She took a sip while the entire class held their breath. Then she smiled. "Very good Neville. Thirty points to Gryffindor for getting the first corrected potion. Why don't you see if you can help some of the other students."

There was a stunned silence from the majority of the class, though Hermione just looked downright stricken to have _Neville_ of all people get something right before she had. _He_ just looked ecstatic. He had earned Gryffindor _forty_ points in _Potions_!

Meega snorted again and tried to fix her potion, as did Hermione. Between Morrigan and Neville the class began to get more and more correct potions. Hermione and Meega finished so closely together that there might as well have been no difference, upsetting Hermione a bit more. Draco and his cronies were having the most difficulty fixing their potions, as they had never really had to work in Potions before and _cooking_ was something none of them would ever _dream_ of doing, _especially_ the Muggle way. Eventually Morrigan went to sit with them, talking the three through it and looking prettily vexed at their idiocy. Crabe got it, then Goyle, and finally Neville was called over to help Draco. The Slytherin boy looked as if he would have rebelled at this, except for the look Morrigan was shooting him. Finally even he got his potion right. When all were tested, class was dismissed fully ten minutes early. The students left, looking faintly surprised and chatting about the lesson. Morrigan had asked Neville to stay a bit after class, and he was terrified of what she would have to say despite his earlier successes. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Meega, and Mione stayed near the doorway waiting to make sure he would be all right and after a while he came out looking surprised and pleased.

"What'd she say?" asked Harry.

"Huh?" said Neville realizing they were there for the first time. "Oh, she wanted to know why Professor Snape had told her I was his worst student. I explained and she said that if it helped I should just think of potions like cooking all the time."

"Oh. Do you cook?" asked Ron. Hermione was still a bit sore about Neville getting his potion fixed first and she wasn't quite being herself at the moment, though no one else seemed to notice or care if they did.

"Well," he answered, embarrassed now, "I used to enter stuff in the county fair when I was younger. I _did_ get a couple blue ribbons now and again." They didn't know how to react to this. "Oh, and she said I shouldn't let Snape scare me. She said he probably just picks on me so much because I let him see how much it bothers me and that I seem to be quite intelligent." He shook his head in amazement. "We'd better get going before we're late for class." The Gryffindor students left Meega then, with a promise to find her at lunch.

Morrigan came out of the classroom carrying an armload of books and looked at Meega for a moment. "You're in Slytherin aren't you." It wasn't a question, but she waited for Meega's nod before smiling and going on. "Good. I get to teach your next class too, though Oliver will be there. I'm glad you've decided to stick with your friends despite the prejudices between houses."

Meega pursed her lips in amusement. "Why wouldn't I? It isn't like I've made any fast friends among the other Slytherins and Mione and I have been friends for years. I know that some would become sworn enemies or some such, but that's not me."

Morrigan nodded knowingly. "Silly, isn't it."

Meega felt a little tickle at the base of her neck. "Don't you ever ask questions?"

The disturbing girl raised an eyebrow. "Only if I don't know something."

"I was afraid of that."

**Part 11 – Where You Stand**

Defense Against the Dark Arts. Her first class with only the other Slytherin fifth years, and just after she had shown her friendship with about half of the Gryffindors in their year. Actually, all of them but Mione seemed unsure of her, as if they half suspected that she wasn't truly friendly. Except that probably was just her imagination. The most likely scenario was that she was being anti-social again. There was a reason that "pariah" was a very good description of her.

Meega slipped quietly into the classroom and chose a seat behind her classmates where she could see them a lot easier than they could see her. Morrigan and Oliver were the professors, and as she pulled out her book, parchment, and quill she saw that none of the others had done so. Did they slack in _every_ class?

"As I had you all in the last class you all know that I'm Nymph and for those of you who don't know him, this is Professor Wood." That would be for Morgianna's benefit. "Today we will be studying werewolves." That should prove amusing. "By show of hands, who in here has ever seen a werewolf?"

Everyone but the two transfer students raised their hand.

"Really. One doesn't usually see a werewolf and survive the encounter as a normal human."

"There was a teacher a couple of years back," Draco sneered. "We didn't see him transformed."

"Then it doesn't count as seeing a werewolf. The men and women who transform monthly are usually rather dangerous, but purely in a human fashion until they transform into the werewolf. As I understand this particular werewolf was a very agreeable person except when transformed. Wasn't he, Draco."

Draco nodded reluctantly.

"Meega, tell us what you know about werewolves."

Meega jumped, startled, then began nervously. "Er… they transform rather painfully in the light of the full moon if any moonlight can reach them. Personally, I believe that the transformation could be avoided if they could be shut away from the moon, but that could also possibly drive them mad, as the moon has a strong pull on them. The bite of a werewolf dooms the victim to becoming a werewolf every following full moon if they survive, though the wolf doesn't bite to create more of it's kind, but to feed. I've heard both that they feed on blood and that they feed on flesh, so I'm not sure whether you want to try to get away or to let them drink some blood and go on their way. Actually, most of what I know is pieced together from Muggle fiction. Oh, and the snout differs from the real wolf in some way. That I know, though I'm not sure how."

Morrigan raised an eyebrow. "You seem to have pieced together quite a bit from Muggle fiction. Before we go on, let's clear up your jumble of fact and fiction."

Meega winced. As the Sorting Hat said, she had a great deal of useless rubbish in her mind.

"First off I have never heard of a werewolf avoiding the transformation, though your theory is interesting. Werewolves feed on flesh, so running is a good idea, but you should try and outsmart the werewolf instead of outdistancing it. Unless you happen to have a very good broom with you, that is. The snout of the werewolf is slightly shorted and broader that that of the true wolf. Does that help, Meega?"

Meega nodded.

"Usually if you get close enough to tell the difference than the easiest way to tell is by waiting until the next full moon and seeing if you turn into a werewolf. I would like you all to read the chapter on werewolves, and then we'll continue."

Meega quickly skimmed the chapter, then settled in writing as she waited for the other Slytherins to finish. "Other Slytherins" still sounded odd.

_Whatever Happened_

_We sat alone on the shore_

_Just talking_

_We were nothing_ I didn't even know him 

_Whatever happened there_

_Between a pair of strangers_

_But it was like magic_

_Neither could resist_

_Now we're together_

_We had seen the other_

_Against each other_

_Now we didn't realize_

_That we were enemies_

_Whatever happened there_

_Between a pair of strangers_

_But it was like magic_

_Neither could resist_

_Now we're together_

_We just took a vacation_

_We met at the beach_

_We talked_

_We laughed_

_We sat in silence_

_We went from total strangers_

_To a lasting romance_

_Whatever happened there_

_Between a pair of strangers_

_But it was like magic_

_Neither could resist_

_Now we're together_

_We sat alone on the shore_

_Just talking_

_We were nothing_ _I didn't even know him_

Meega smiled at the poem. Where it had come from she had no idea, but it was fairly good, wasn't it? Perhaps it was a song, the lyrics needing the music to set them totally free. She only rarely wrote poems, but she did seem to have a flair for them in any mood. She started writing again.

_The Lady Felicity of Elderworld had the letter to her twin sister, Tyra, in her lap as she rode down the dusty, bumpy road through the neighboring country of Minoto to the castle where she was to meet with King Fredrik. Now, as she sat in a large chamber that had been provided for her, she read it again despite the fact that she had memorized it._

My Dear Lady Tyra,

I invite you to my home to discuss a marriage treaty between us. You are, of course, aware that the merging of our countries would be profitable. As you well know my subjects are industrious, and the wealth of your vast lands could be put to use.

Your beauty out-shines the stars.

King Fredrik of Minoto

_The letter was obviously written for a greedy, empty-headed queen, as many of Tyra's suitors seemed to think she was. Felicity always dealt with the suitors, though she would have Tyra see any who followed the proper protocol by journeying through the treacherous wilderness of Elderworld to the palace where the sisters lived baring gifts rather than inviting Tyra to visit them in their castle._

_As she folded the letter a knock sounded at the door and she rose gracefully, shaking out her deep red hair and adjusting her deep emerald gown that contrasted her pale skin and would have matched her eyes except that it was too dull. When she opened the door she saw a young nervous looking page. "I am to take you to dinner and announce you, Lady Tyra."_

_Felicity looked slightly disgruntled, though no more than was proper. "I must not have been announced correctly. I am Tyra's sister, the Lady Felicity. Tyra was not in to receive the letter, and I am here to discuss the proposed marriage treaty between Elderworld and Minoto."_

"_King Fredrik was told that one of the Ladies of Elderworld was here, and he assumed it was Lady Tyra, to whom he had extended his proposal." The young page looked even more nervous, obviously wondering if he would be transformed into a toad. He needn't have worried, though. It was Tyra who did things like that, not Felicity. The worst anyone had ever received from Felicity was a threat to transform him into a kitten. It had been one of her sister's more persistent suitors, Prince Helram of Jotana, and _that_ had rid them if him quickly._

"Meega! If you would kindly pay attention then we could get on with the lesson."

"I'm sorry," she said hurriedly. "When I finished no one else as done so I started writing."

"Why don't you read what you've written to the class."

Meega blushed. "I'd rather not, really. It's not important."

"Please don't write it during my class, then."

"Yes, Morrigan."

For the rest of the class Meega paid careful attention and took notes, so she was fairly well prepared for their homework.

"Choose a werewolf myth and write an essay disproving it. You will probably need more information than is in your books, but I'm sure that Madam Pince will be happy to help such eager students as yourselves." She grinned brightly at the class.

Meega sighed and repacked her bag, following the rest of the Slytherins out of the classroom and to the Great Hall. She ate her lunch as quickly as ever, keeping an eye out for the Gryffindors.

"So," Draco sneered as she sat watching for them, "where do you stand? With the Gryffindors or with your own house?"

Meega turned slowly around to face him, her face showing the level that her temper had already been worked to. "I stand with myself, Draco. I'm not one to let things like my friends being in a different house get in my way, but I'm not trying to be a Gryffindor. I'm as much a Slytherin as anyone else in our house. I just prefer people with personalities."

Draco's eyes narrowed in anger. "You dare to insult me?"

"Oh, stop being so overly dramatic," Meega half-growled. "You don't have a personality- you're just a selfish, spoiled prig with nothing but a family name going for you."

"And you're brave enough to be a Gryffindor. Around here that's not a good thing."

"Thank you. Spirit makes people more interesting, and bravery gives me the ability to _do_ something with my ambition. Other than becoming a sniveling, groveling Death Eater, that is."

"Hey, Mia, are you coming with us?" It was Mione, standing right behind her. "We're going back to the common room. We just finished eating."

Meega nodded and tossed her bag onto her shoulders. As she left with her friend she glanced back at the Slytherin table and saw Draco watching her. He looked… interested. Just vaguely, but he was definitely looking at her like she was some rare animal in a zoo. Meega shuddered as she turned back to her friend.

"You know, I think that Draco might be more intelligent than he lets on."

Part 12 – Behind Enemy Lines   
Before long Meega found herself facing the Fat Lady. How many times had she dreamed about going behind her, into the Gryffindor common room? Too many to count. So why was she more nervous than usual now? That was easy. Every time she'd day dreamed about this she'd been going in as a Gryffindor first year or even a second or third year, never as a fifth year Slytherin. Actually, the Fat Lady had rarely entered her fantasies. It had most often been Harry. Oddly, however, she didn't feel anything more than friendship for him now, pulled out of the long cool ashes of her delusions of romance with a fictitious character. Of course, she felt the same way towards the others. Except Mione. She was closer to her. She was more like a sister than a friend. 

The Gryffindors exchanged glances, and then Mione shrugged and gave the password. "Moonshadow."

Meega arched an eyebrow. "Moonshadow? Lucky. Ours is… very Slytherin." She wrinkled her nose distastefully. "I'd tell you, but it's probably better if you _don't_ know. The others are the most intolerant people I've ever met, and I really don't want to wake up to find the common room pink one morning. I hate pink."

Mione grinned at her, sharing in the joke, then they all entered the common room together. Meega blinked. It was very bright in there, and very vivid. She liked red and gold well enough when she was going for a dramatic look, but they were very… warm. Fiery. She was more comfortable with the moist greens and aquas, the soft silvers. Water colors. And there was Mercedes Lackey affecting her again. The Gryffindors took the choice seats by the fire, and Meega chose the seat in the semi-circle farthest from the blaze. She might hate being cold, but she hated being hot, too.

"Well, this is it," she said, looking around at their common room. Like the Slytherin common room, it was done in the house colors. "The place where it is likely that no Slytherin has ever gone before." She smiled wickedly at them. "There's too much light and it's too vivid."

"Really?" Mione asked. "I think it's wonderful."

Meega grinned. "I'd feel like I was living in a fire, or a very warm, bright jewelry box. Not that I have anything against not freezing… the Slytherin common room is down right cold, but perfect other than that."

Harry and Ron were grinning at each other, and Meega decided it was best to ignore it, as she knew exactly what they were grinning about.

"So," Neville asked, "have you met Snape yet?"

"No, actually. I probably will before long, though."

"Unless he gets himself killed," Harry muttered.

Meega smiled. "There are probably those who wish he would." She was looking strait at Ron, who shrugged, grinning at her.

"Anyhoozles, Does anyone have any idea when I can figure out if I can fly properly or if I need a lot of practice?"

"Did you just say 'anyhoozles'?"

Meega gave Hermione an innocent look. "Yes? Actually, I'm Muggleborn. I picked it up online."

"Really? I didn't think there were any Muggleborn Slytherins."

Meega shrugged. "How long did it take the Hat to decide, anyway?"

"About half an hour," Ron said, sounding unbelieving.

"I wonder how much faster it would have gone if I had shut up and let it work."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well…" Meega grinned mischievously. "Pretty much I was awful to it. As in if it had to go through that very many times it would retire. Or, at least, _I_ would."

"Um-hmm."

"Anywho, I'm really lost when it comes to either navigating the halls or finding free time on the Quidditch field."

"Now you said 'anywho'."

Meega waved it off. "Another online idiom. Anyway, can someone please tell me when I can practice flying on the field and perhaps help me find my way out of this place?"

"Easy," Harry said. "We're free after Care of Magical creatures and we can just Summon our brooms to the field."

Meega perked slightly. "Sounds like fun. I warn you- I've never been on a broom before in my life. I've read a bit about it, and I'm not in the least afraid to, but I've never actually _done_ it before. Neither has Mione."

Harry smiled. "Fine with me."

"One more thing- no one's allowed to touch my broom until I've been on it for an hour."

"Why?"

"It might have been a stupid idea, but I got myself a Firebolt II."

"Awesome!" That, of course, was Ron.

"Are you coming, too?" Meega said sweetly.

"Sure. I need to practice for tryouts."

"Good thing I'm in Slytherin. I'd cream you."

"You've never even been on a broom!"

"You're forgetting- I'm an arrogant little Slytherin."

The Gryffindors all laughed at that.

"I saw you talking to Draco when I came over to get you," Mione said once things had calmed down a bit.

Meega grinned wickedly. "Actually, I was more _insulting_ him than _talking_ to him. I called him a prig, as well and selfish and spoiled, told him he had no personality, and insinuated that he'd end up as a suck-up Death Eater."

And, somehow, they found that _funny_. It was a while before any of them stopped laughing. Finally Meega stopped herself from laughing long enough to get the time off of Harry's watch. When she did she yelped, laughter forgotten.

"What?"

"Care of Magical Creatures started five minutes ago, that's what!"

All the Gryffindors made noises that agreed with Meega's, and after a mad shuffle for bags they were all running to get to Care of Magical Creatures.


	4. Fledglins

_**Chapter 4 – Fledglings**_

**Part 13 – Minute Monster**

"I was wondrin' where the lot of you had got off to." They were a good ten minutes late for Care of Magical Creatures and their teacher seemed more amused than anything. "Now tha' you're all here we can get started. This-" He pulled out what appeared to be a small brown hair ball- "is a Flufglow. They come in five colors: the brown males and the white, green, black, or silver females." He released the male Flufglow, which then started to flit around lazily. "They imprint on a human Mother as soon as they're hatched and stay with them until they die. These males are downright borin' unless they've chosen you as their Mother, but the females are more int'restin'. And more dangerous for that matter. The males have a M.O.M. rating of X, and the females are ranked according to color: white is XX, green is XXX, black is XXXX, and silver is XXXXX. Of course, they're only dangerous if you put their Mother in danger. They can speak with their Mother and other Flufglow telepathically, so they don't make mistakes about that. They wouldn't be classified as 'creatures' except that they can only communicate with their Mother and their own kind. As a special treat I've brought you all a nest of Flufglow eggs that are due to hatch today- one for each of you." He motioned to a crate of straw beside him. "All of you come gather 'round." 

The class gathered around the nest, a clutch of eggs colored in the five colors of the Flufglow, each egg somehow a different shade. They were absolutely still in their bed of straw until one, an iridescent black thing, started vibrating. Soon all the eggs were quivering and out came a brilliantly white Flufglow. She was absolutely tiny, a ball of fluff with two round black eyes and a long, thin tail. She flitted slowly around the circle and Meega felt her brush her mind before going on. Finally she wrapped her tail around Dean's finger and started glowing with white light.

"That's what they do when they imprint," Hagrid said, smiling at the joy on Dean's face. Soon another one was out- a dully brown male. He repeated the procedure, attaching himself to Millicent before starting to glow. They came out faster now, so she could only note a few. The one who had started the vibrating attaching herself to Neville. A jade green wrapped her tail around Draco. A harshly colored silver for Harry. An ebony colored black for Ron. An emerald green for Hermione. A jet black for Mione…

Then she felt, not a simple bushing of the Flufglow mind, but one connect. A softly colored silver flitted towards her and wrapped her tail around Meega's finger as if she'd never let go and started to glow, filling Meega's mind so completely that she didn't even notice when the last few Flufglow found their Mothers. After a while her tiny Flufglow dimmed her light and removed herself from her Mother to float near her.

"Your Flufglow will tell you exactly what they need, but I want you to bring them t' class the next few weeks at least. Tha's all for t'day."

Meega and her friends wandered off towards the pitch where Mione, Meega, Harry, and Ron summoned their brooms and Hermione and Neville took seats in the stands.

"Put down the brooms, put your right hand over yours, and say 'up' to retrieve your broom," Harry instructed. The girls complied and both brooms shot directly into their hands. _They_ didn't fear flying. _They_ had dreamed of it for years.

"Now mount them." The girls grinned at each other, then swung their right legs over their brooms, gripping them firmly.

Harry looked at their grips, correcting them. "That's very good, Mione, but you want to do that a little lower." Mione nodded and scooted her grip down the broom handle. When he saw Meega's grip, however, he laughed. "That's not it at all, Mia. You lead with your left hand?"

"Yes…"

"Well, then. For one thing you don't lace your fingers together, but place them one above the other. Also, you don't spread your wrists so much. Like this." He adjusted her grip, careful not to touch her broom, then grinned at her. "Of course, Malfoy's was worse."

Meega sighed. "If _that's_ the best you can say for my grip then it must be awful."

Harry looked amused. "Pretty much."

Meega sighed, shifting slightly and managing to mess up her grip again.

"No, like this." Harry shifted her grip again and this time Meega managed to keep it that way.

"Let's see if I can remember it now," Meega said, releasing her broom and stepping off to the side. "UP!" The broom leapt into her hand and she mounted it, almost getting her grip right. She scowled at it and corrected her grip, muttering, "Close enough for government work."

Harry still looked amused. "Why don't we kick off now? Don't go to high."

Meega nodded and kicked off, though Mione beat her by a portion of a second. She went higher than she intended to, about fifty feet, and made a vexed noise, remembering that she was supposed to lean forward slightly to go back down. Except she leaned forward to far and went into a dive, hurtling towards the ground, fear and the whistling of the wind blocking out sound so that she only vaguely heard Harry's frantic shouts for her to pull up and put no meaning to them. It registered right before she hit the ground and she pulled up, tumbling sideways and breaking her left arm with an audible crack. Her friends rushed over to her, babbling worriedly. She rolled over off her arm with a groan and looked up at the cluster of faces above her. "Ouch."

Hermione gave her a disapproving look. "I should think so."

"Not my arm… not only that, anyway. It's bright and you people are loud."

"It's cloudy."

Meega glared at Ron. "It's bright."

Mione sighed. "Again?"

"It's been bright all day, but now it's bothering my head. Again."

Part 14 – A Name   
Meega slipped quietly back into the Slytherin commons room late that night, her tiny Flufglow glowing softly to light her path. She stroked the soft furred child with a gentle finger, smiling as the low luminescence brightened. Sighing, she sunk into a chair, remembering the rest of her day.   
Flashback Meega had hurried up to the hospital wing, using the directions she was given. Madam Pomfrey had mended the bone in minutes, given her something for her headache, and checked out her eyes when she mentioned that she had them very frequently, then strengthened her glasses, also charming them so that they wouldn't have a glare. As soon as she was free from the hospital wing Meega went back out to the Quidditch pitch. She worked carefully, talking to her tiny Flufglow as she flew, and by dinner time she was greatly improved, enough so that she would be able to actually progress when Harry was working with her. :You're doing very well, Mother: her Flufglow said encouragingly. :I wish you wouldn't call me "Mother,": Meega answered irritably. :What should I call you then? You _are_ my mother, after all.::Um… Kassan. Japanese for Mother, or Mom, rather. Mother would be Okassama, then the next in formality is Okassan. Kassan is the least formal form of the word.::Than why not Okassama::I just like Kassan. I suppose you _could_ call me Okassama… what do I call you: 

:Whatever you wish, Okassama.:

:Hmm… how about Assina:

:It's a lovely name, Okassama.:

After that she had hurried to put her broom away, then gone to dinner. Draco was showing off his "superior" green- the top in Slytherin, except for hers.

Meega had smirked at his little jade colored ball of fluff before turning a purposefully arrogant expression towards Draco. Heaven, she loved acting. "Well, Draco, that's a lovely little green you have there. XXX, isn't she? I must say, Assina puts her to shame." She looked over her shoulder at her little girl. :Come out, sweety.: Assina obediently flitted out from behind her, her glow almost non-existent. :Don't be shy, loveling.:

:Yes, Okassama: Assina replied, brightening considerably.

"So, what did you name yours?"

"Salzari."

Meega snorted. "Figures."

After dinner Meega had slipped off to the Gryffindor common room. There were three blacks, which were odd to see glowing, and the only other silver in the clutch. Harry had named her Lily after his mother, and had managed to convince her to call him "Father" instead of "Mother." It had been amusing to watch the silvers play together and when Meega had finally slipped off to talk to Mione it was already very late. Their talk had only been idle chatter, mostly about Assina and Mione's Bazakaban.

End Flashback

:We've had a good day together, haven't we, Assina:

:Yes, Okassama. We have. I love you.:

:Hai, Assina. Ai Shiteru.:

:What does that mean, Okassama:

:More of my sketchy Japanese. Hai means yes, as Iie means no, and Ai Shiteru means I love you.:

:Ai Shiteru, Okassama.:

**Part 15 – A Slip of the Tongue**

"Meega Kyl-Derc, pay attention!"

Meega winced as Professor McGonagall's voice cut through her thoughts. She had been at Hogwarts for almost two weeks, now, and she was already getting bored with her classes. Especially Transfiguration. She never took notes in any class and never had, and that was a most of what they did in Transfiguration. "Sorry, Professor."

"I asked you for the incantation to transform an inanimate object into an animal!"

"That would be _Animalis Vivus_, Professor."

Professor McGonagall looked slightly put out. Apparently Meega wasn't supposed to know the answer, as she hadn't been paying attention. Well, it hadn't been that hard to figure out that Professor McGonagall pretty much re-stated what was in the book for their lessons. Most teachers did. "Thank you, Miss Kyl-Derc. Now, as I was saying…"

Meega zoned out again. This had to be the longest class ever. If she hadn't been zapped then she'd be taking American Government this year. It was a Junior/Senior class, but her family almost always got the classes they wanted no matter what. The teachers liked them, the councilor liked them, and she was pretty sure that the administration was slightly scared of her mother. She'd also be in Math Analysis, which was a product of their screwed up math system a few years back and used the Advanced Mathematics book. She'd taken Algebra 1 in eighth grade. Math was fun, and Science. She would have had Biology, too, like all the other Sophomores. She had a passion for genetics, as well as nuclear physics and astronomy, but she wouldn't really have been able to stand dissecting something. Then there was Geography, the regular tenth grade Social Studies class. It would be interesting to take two Social Studies classes.

"Miss Kyl-Derc, can't you pay attention for five minutes?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Then why don't you?"

"I don't need to," Meega muttered.

"What was that?" Professor McGonagall asked, swelling.

"I don't need to pay attention," Meega said softly, wondering where, exactly, her brain had gotten off to. Sure, she would _love_ to simply tell her that she never had and never would pay attention to lectures, as they never covered anything that she either didn't already know or couldn't easily look up in the text book. That wasn't something you did if you wanted to stay on the teacher's good side, though.

"So… you believe that you don't need to pay attention."

"I've never been in a class where I needed to pay attention, as my teachers have always reviewed things I'd already picked up on or could learn much faster by skimming the chapter. I think, I read, I write, I draw- or, if the notes are going to be collected, then I take notes on what it is made clear has to be on there."

"So you believe that you know everything in the lesson."

Meega gave the disgruntled professor a very bored look. "You are lecturing the class on the transformation of an inanimate object into an animal, a shortcut for the previously taught transformations of certain inanimate objects into certain animals, such as a tea pot into a tortoise. The incantation is, as I said, _Animalis Vivus_. You use the incantation by pointing your wand at the inanimate object and, while speaking said incantation, picturing the inanimate object as an animal, preferably of approximately equal size. You will go on to talk about the use of this practice, for example, Cedric Diggory's use of the spell in an attempt to distract the dragon in the Triwizard Tournament. We will practice the spell today and possibly next class period. The next spell covered, however, will be the reverse of this one, the transformation of an animal into an inanimate object, by use of the incantation _Animalis Adfectio Rei_. I can already perform both spells by way of wandless magic, and dislike the second one, but I believe I am correct."

By the look on Professor McGonagall's face, she was. "You are. Five points from Slytherin for your rude behavior."

"Does it make a difference, Professor?"

"What do you mean?"

"Five points. I'm not trying to get them back or anything, but what's five points when Harry and his friends haven't failed to win the cup for Gryffindor yet?"

**Part 16 – Hair Today…**

"Oh, I'm sick of this!" Meega said as she dramatically threw herself into a plush armchair in front of the fire where Mione and the trio were sitting after their last class that day.

"What?" Mione asked. "Pining for the States?"

"No. It's my hair."

"Your hair?"

"Yep. I'm tired of dealing with it. Anybody have a pair of scissors or a knife or something?"

"Not me. Severing charm?"

"Nope. Don't want to use it on my hair."

"Um… We could borrow one of Lavender or Parvati's cosmetic spell books?"

"Sure, whatever. Who wants to ask? You know they won't lend anything to a little Slytherin like me."

Mione shook her head. "They don't particularly like me."

Hermione sighed. "If you really want one than I suppose I could borrow one. They've been bothering me with them the whole time we've been at Hogwarts."

"Thank you _so_ much."

Hermione went off to talk to Lavender, then they went up to the girls dormitory and Hermione came back down with a short stack of books, scowling slightly. "Hermione came back down with a short stack of books, scowling slightly. "You know I'm going to have to do something now."

"Thanks," Meega said in an off-hand manner as she picked up the top book, read the title, and put it back down. Finally she chose one, _One Thousand Spells for the Perfect You_ by Cassie O. Pea. She opened to the index and began "Hair, hair, hair… ah! Here we go! Coloring… straightening and curling, both of them either permanent or temporary… styling… here we are, cutting." She started to flip to the page, then stopped. "Wait, I like the sound of this one. The Hair Perfection Charm."

Mione looked interested. "What's it say?"

"The enchantment is intended to bestow the caster with their ideal hair, in shade, length, amenability, and growth rate. The spell is immutable and so will only perform on the primary casting. Warning: Do not cast barring that you possess a singular precise mental image of your model hair. The incantation is _Iustus Caesaries_."

Mione blinked. "What?"

"Pretty much it gives you the hair you've always wanted. It will only work once and you're stuck with the results, so you have to have a mental picture of what you want your hair to look like."

"Are you going to try it?"

"Heck yeah." Meega smiled and pointed her wand at her hair, closed her eyes, and pictured her hair exactly as she wanted it. She took a deep breath, then said, "_Iustus Caesaries_!"

Hair suddenly cascaded down her back, unfurling in shining deep mahogany waves, her silky hair now falling to her hips, as thick as ever but now impossible to tangle. Smiling, Meega opened her eyes and conjured up a full-length mirror. She ran her fingers back through her hair and flipped it with a slight toss of her head, then made the mirror disappear and sat down with her friends.

"Cool! I want to try that!" Mione exclaimed, picking up her wand and pointing it at her hair. "_Iustus Caesaries_!" Mione's hair started growing, then getting shorter, then it was growing again, all the while flickering through every color imaginable. Then suddenly it was still, short and messy, quite like Harry's, except it was yellow-blond with scarlet tips. Mione opened her eyes and conjured a mirror, then stared.

"Mione, did you have a 'a singular precise mental image of your model hair?'"

"Um… not 'singular,' per se…"

"And now your stuck," Meega sighed. "I wonder if it'll grow. You have no clue what the specifications are."

Mione studied her hair carefully in the mirror, then grinned. "I actually kind of like it."

Meega laughed. "You would."

Hermione looked ruefully at Mione's hair. "I think I'll just use a straightening charm."


	5. Blossoms of Friendships

_**Chapter 5 – Blossoms of Friendship**_

**Part 17 – Stares**

Meega grinned at the other two girls who had been messing with their hair. "Wanna go show off our new hair?"

Hermione shook her head. "I think I'll stay here."

"Mione?"

"As soon as I do this…" She'd been looking through one of the other cosmetic books while Hermione straightened her hair. She pointed her wand at her face and said, "_Genae Adfectio_!" Her eyes turned a rich green, lighter than Harry's eyes. She blinked several times, then took off her glasses to check them, looking perplexed. As soon as she removed them she looked ecstatic. "Hey! I don't need my glasses anymore!"

"Let's swing by the Hospital Wing just to make sure," Meega said, grinning at her friend. Unlike Mione, she liked the way her glasses looked on her. Anyway, the spell wasn't meant to fix vision, just change eye color, and Meega was perfectly happy with her deep topaz eyes.

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

Madam Pomfrey, amid a lecture on not using spells that they hadn't practiced, proclaimed Mione's vision perfect. Then Meega dragged Mione off to the Slytherin dungeon.

"Lion's Blood," Meega told the blank portion of wall, then grinned at Mione as she led her friend into the Slytherin Common Room, only the third Gryffindor to set foot inside and the first to be invited.

Several of the Slytherins automatically looked to see who had come in, and those who did either stared or did a double take. Among them was Draco Malfoy. He glanced up, did a quick double take, and started watching Meega again, and she shivered slightly. It made her uncomfortable whenever he did that, like she was under a microscope for him to study.

"Lets not stay in here," Meega muttered quietly to her best friend. "We can just drop off my stuff in the dorm and then go out to the lake or the library or something."

"What, do your house mates make you nervous?" Mione asked slyly.

"No, just Draco. Every once in a while he'll start watching me, and I don't particularly like feeling like I'm about to be dissected."

"Draco?" Mione asked incredulously as they crossed the common room. "Since when do you call him Draco?"

"Since he's in my house," Meega said tartly. "Besides, I like his name. Dragons are cool."

"This is _Draco Malfoy_ we're talking about."

"So? Even evil dragons are cool. Think Smaug."

"Smaug?"

"_The Hobbit_. It's before _The Lord of the Rings_, where Bilbo gets the Ring. You should read it, since you're so sweet on Legolas. Even though he's not in it. His dad is."

"So?"

"Whatever."

"My, my, Meega, what _have_ you done to your hair?" Draco had apparently abandoned watching Meega in favor of taunting her.

"If you can't tell, it doesn't matter," Meega snapped irritably.

Draco ignored her comment. "And who's this you've brought with you? She's not a Slytherin."

"Exactly. Draco Malfoy, meet Ashley Green. Mione, you know Draco."

"Malfoy should know me, after that last caper," Mione said, sounding amused.

Meega looked blank for a moment, then laughed. "So it was you who sent him that rock yesterday!"

"Of course! Harry's too nice. We've got to break him in to fill his dad's shoes."

"Of course. I don't think Hagrid would like it much, though." She grinned, flipping her hair at a half-stunned Draco, and then flounced down into the girl's dorms with a sniggering Mione.

"You just flicked him in the face, Mia."

"So? My hair smells good. Like vanilla."

"Everybody does vanilla."

"So? I like vanilla."

Meega opened the appropriate door and slipped in, dumping her bag at the foot of her bed, then turned to smile at a shocked Pansy. "Having trouble with your hair? Or maybe keeping your boyfriend in line?" Before she could reply, Meega asked Mione, "So, library or lake or somewhere else entirely?"

"Lake."

Meega nodded and grabbed her cloak, and the pair left.

Part 18 – …Goon Tomorrow 

The next morning at breakfast Professor Dumbledore had an announcement. "While I have your attention I would like to announce that on Halloween we shall be having a ball, courtesy of the Muggle Studies class. It will be a costume ball, and open to students fourth year an above, though you may, of course, invite younger students."

If he had anything else to say, it was completely lost. The students immediately started talking about what they were going to wear and who they wanted to go with, and breakfast seemed a very abbreviated meal that day.

In Potions Meega had quickly replaced Draco as Snape's "Star Pupil" and so she could get away with almost anything. That day they were working on Polyjuice Potions, and Meega found them… amusing. She wondered how many students were going to go to the ball as a friend… or an enemy.

Near the end of the lesson the door open and Morrigan practically floated in like a silent shadow. She went over to Snape without making a sound and gently touched his arm, making him jump and spin around to face her.

"What do you want, Miss Eros?"

"I just came to see if you needed a hand."

"We have nearly finished for today, Miss Eros."

"Well, then, can I talk to you for a moment."

"Talk."

"Will you go to the ball with me?" It was clearly a question, but only barely and she was obviously expecting a positive answer.

Severus Snape replied by turning the most interesting shade of scarlet. Meega giggled. Never, in any of the books or in any fanfic she'd read, had Professor Snape blushed. "You're seventeen, Miss Eros."

"Oh, come now, Severus, I'm not _that_ much younger than you, and besides, time means very little to-"

"I know how you feel about age, Miss Eros, but twenty years is a vast difference."

"It's not, really, and it's not like I'm asking you to marry me or anything."

"I wasn't planning on attending."

"Oh, you know Albus will drag you up there anyhow."

By this point Snape was obviously flustered. "Perhaps we should continue this discussion later, Miss Eros. Class is over."

The students reluctantly filed out of the classroom, though almost all of them remained clustered around the doorway. Morrigan smiled. "All right then, Severus, I'll see you after my class." Then she stretched up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek, then strode out of the room. She smiled at the small crowd of Gryffindors and Slytherins and swept off to her room, the Slytherins following, leaving a group of shocked Gryffindors. Meega laughed as she heard Snape deducting points from the Gryffindors that he caught as they scrambled away.

The Slytherins settled into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, slightly more willing to actually listen to her lesson.

"Well, we moved through Werewolves remarkably fast, so today we're going to start on Goons. Can anybody tell me what a Goon is?"

No one raised a hand, and so Meega shrugged and put hers up.

"Meega."

"It's what the Good Fairy turned Little Bunny Foo-Foo into." The other Slytherins looked blank. "What? I'm Muggleborn."

Morrigan raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Well, there was no Good Fairy involved." She lifted a wire hutch containing a little white rabbit onto the desk. "I believe another Muggle Fairy Tale referred to it as the 'Great Animal.'"

Meega put her hand up again and Morrigan nodded in acknowledgment. "Does it go around scooping up field mice and bopping them on the head?"

"It only eats field mice when there isn't larger prey around."

"Like Good Fairies?"

"They do enjoy eating fairies, good bad, it doesn't matter. It's where the whole nursery rhyme came from."

"It's just a rabbit!" objected Pansy.

"Hardly," said Morrigan. "Goons look like rabbits until they attack. Few know what they really look like, because few have survived their attack. We caught this one asleep out in the Forbidden Forest. During class I want you to take notes on how this Goon differs from normal wild rabbits-" she lifted another hutch onto the desk, this one containing several wild rabbits, -"and we will have a test on the differences next time. If you have questions, you can ask Oliver." She patted Oliver on the shoulder. "Thanks for taking over the class, Olli." Then she ran off, presumably to talk Snape into taking her to the ball.

Part 19 – The Fight, the Fright, the Sudden Light 

"'It's what the Good Fairy turned Little Bunny Foo-Foo into,' honestly," Pansy said in a mocking tone. Meega had finished lunch and gone back to her dorm instead of to the Gryffindor common room, and Pansy was obviously not happy.

"Oh? 'It's just a rabbit,' _honestly_! Did you _think_ that Morrigan would try and pass a rabbit off as a Dark creature?"

"The rest of us aren't slimy little Mudbloods, and you'd do well not to remind us that we have to have one in our house."

"A Mudblood, am I?" Meega said a little dangerously. "At least I don't have a boyfriend who keeps busy by flirting with any relatively good looking girl that he sees."

"At least I _have_ a boyfriend," Pansy sniffed. "No need to ask who _you're_ going to the ball with. There's only one boy in the school who would go with a bushy-haired Mudblood like you, and he's going out with your Gryffindor twin."

_Smack!_ Meega slapped Pansy, then whispered, "Don't you_ ever_ insult me or my friends again, or you'll be dealing with more than a hand print." Then she took her bag and stormed off.

"You're always prettier when you're angry," said a very familiar voice.

"Shut it, Draco, I've already slapped someone today, and I'm on a roll."

"Not today," Draco said coolly. Crabbe was standing by the exit, and Goyle the way back into the girl's dorm.

Meega glared at the pretty blond boy. "Talk," she growled.

"Will you go to the ball with me?"

Meega was about to refuse when she scented revenge. "Sure. Now let me out of here."

He nodded and his thugs moved. Meega left in a huff, going straight to the Gryffindor tower. It wasn't like anyone else was going to ask her.

When she got to the Common Room, though, Neville was waiting for someone. She slowed warily, and he asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute, Meega?"

"Um… yeah."

"Will you go to the ball with me?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry Neville!" Meega said. "Draco _just_ asked me, and for some reason I said yes. Now I feel _awful_."

"Oh," Neville said, looking crestfallen.

"I'm really sorry, I wasn't really expecting to get asked. I'll save you a dance, okay?"

"Er… okay, I'm not very good, though."

Meega grinned. "Well, then, I've got the perfect way to make it up to you. I'll teach you."

"No- it's fine, really, Meega. You don't have to-"

"Yes, but I _want_ to. I'll see you in the empty classroom across from Transfiguration after Care of Magical Creatures, all right?"

"O-okay."

Meega grinned at him, then went over to join Mione and the Trio.

"Hey, do you know if Snape agreed to go to the dance with Morrigan?" Mione asked when she sat down.

"No idea. She probably managed to talk him into it. I feel absolutely awful."

"About what?"

"The ball. Neville just asked me."

"You didn't say yes just because he was the first to ask you and then get asked by your secret crush, did you?"

"No. I actually don't have a crush on anyone for once. I would have loved to go with Neville, and we would have had a great time."

"Would have?"

"Yes. Draco had already asked me."

"_And you agreed to go with him!_" Mione squeaked.

Meega nodded glumly. "I wouldn't have, but I'd just had a fight with Pansy."

"What's that have to do with anything?"

Meega snorted. "You are blind, aren't you? Draco's her boyfriend. I hope I haven't missed the break up."

"Revenge?"

"Yeah. It's the sweetest smell on earth if you can scent it fast enough. Otherwise there's no point."

"What happened to Slytherins being vengeful?"

"You know me better than that, Mione. I'm about as vengeful as a cricket unless I manage to lash out in the first few minutes."

"A cricket?"

"Whatever."

"Maybe if you hadn't been flirting with him yesterday…"

"I wasn't flirting. No more than I do with any other boy, anyway."

"You don't flirt with Harry and Ron."

"Yes, I do. Oh, and Hermione?"

"Yes?" she asked without looking up from her book. Her light brown hair, since she'd straightened it the day before, was sleek and manageable.

"Are you going out with Harry or Ron or is Pansy just being an idiot?"

"Harry."

Harry blushed, picking up a book to hide behind.

Meega grinned. "Who are you going with, Mione?"

"To the ball? Don't know. Probably some idiot who can't ask anyone before a few days before the ball."

With two of the five of them with their noses in books and Ron sitting with his back to Mione, Meega was the only one who saw the Weasley boy's ears turn red. So he had a crush on Mione, did he? "Well, he'd better hurry up or somebody else might ask you. Maybe Neville will ask you."

"Neville?"

"Sure. He still needs a date." Ron was getting redder, which was probably a good thing. "Or maybe Seamus or Dean will."

"Nope. Dean's going out with Lavender and Seamus is Parvati's boyfriend. Besides, they don't like me, either. Not after what I did to their girlfriends."

"What _did_ you do to Lavender and Parvati?"

"Um… everything they owned was pink the first Saturday."

"You turned everything they owned pink?" Meega asked incredulously.

"Yea."

"I hate pink."

"We know, Mia."

"So, why don't _you_ ask someone?"

"Like who?"

Meega shrugged. "Neville, Justin, one of the twins… Fred and George are hilarious _and_ fairly nice."

Meega had finally hit the right nerve. Ron, who was now blushing as much as Harry, turned around to face the newly blond and scarlet haired Gryffindor and said, "Mionewillyougototheballwithme?"

Mione looked at Meega. "Would you care to translate?"

"He asked you to the ball."

"Thought so." She turned to Ron. "Sure."

Meega grinned, and Ron quickly diverted their attention from him by calling to Morrigan, who had just come in. When she came over, he asked, "So, did Snape say yes?"

"That's not really any of your business," Morrigan said with a smug expression before she left the trio and the two girls.

"Snape must have finally said yes, then," Meega said with a little smirk.

"I can't believe she asked him!" Mione said.

"She's absolutely a stunner, and she picks Snape out of the whole school," Ron said in disgust.

"Oh, thanks," Mione sniffed.

Ron's ears turned red again, and Meega giggled. "Put your foot in your mouth, did you?"

"Shut up."

Part 20 – The Big Breakup 

When Meega finally got back to the Slytherin common room that night she was absolutely exhausted. Her feet hurt as much from dancing as from Neville stepping on them, and her sides hurt from laughing. Neville had been joking with her the whole lesson, and she had discovered that he had a very healthy since of humor. The common room was relatively full, as there weren't really very many Slytherins, and there was only one seat left by the fire. As she quickly took it she realized that it was Draco's usual chair: a comfortable deep green armchair accented in silver with ebony wood. Meega glanced around for the blond boy and found him just sitting down at a table a little ways off with some homework. Could he possibly have moved for her?

As Meega curled up in the chair, Pansy came up out of the girls' dorms. She looked at Draco's chair, saw Meega, and sneered, and glanced around the common room. When she saw Draco she went over huffily.

"I heard that you're going to the ball with Meega Kyl-Derc."

Draco didn't look up from the essay he was writing. "We decided not to go to this ball together, Pansy."

"You said that you were going to go alone!"

"No, I said that I didn't know who I was going to ask. You were the one who said that we should go with someone new."

"I meant a real Slytherin, Draco, not that little slut."

Meega bristled. If she hadn't been quite as tired as she was then Pansy would currently be regretting even thinking that Meega was a slut.

Draco finally looked up from his homework, seeming very bored. "Take it up with the Hat, Pansy. I didn't Sort her. Meega interests me. She's too brave for her own good."

"Too brave for my own good, am I?" Meega muttered to herself, glowering.

As she did Pansy glared at Draco and retorted, "You could have at least chosen a date with proper Slytherin pride. That little Mudblood whore is friends with Gryffindors!"

Pansy was _very_ lucky that Meega was too tired to go over there. Whore indeed!

Draco glared slightly. "I don't associate with whores, Pansy. Would you have preferred it if I'd asked that slut, Morgianna?"

Pansy glared back. "At least she acts like a Slytherin. It's over between us, Draco."

Draco was obviously floored by that. "Wh-what?"

"It's over," Pansy said slowly. "As in, we're through."

"Are… Are you dumping me?"

"Bravo, Draco, it only took you three times to understand. Yes, I'm dumping you." With that she stalked over to Crabbe. She smiled up at the large and rather unintelligent Slytherin, and they left the common room hand in hand.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish," Meega muttered, starting on her Potions essay.

Quite a while later the common room was silent. Meega had a familiar felling that she was not alone, though, and so looked around to see who else was still there. Draco was still sitting at the table in the corner, and he looked completely devastated. Sighing slightly, Meega shut her Transfiguration book and went over to him.

"Thank you."

Draco started and looked up at her, confused. "For what?"

"Sticking up for me earlier. You could have very easily said something like you did when she called me a slut."

"I have a reputation to keep up."

"Getting dumped for Vincent Crabbe in front of the entire House doesn't fit with your reputation. You might have been able to avoid it if you had let her label me however she wanted."

"She was lying."

"And you never have?"

"Not very often, and never to hurt a fellow Slytherin. I usually just exaggerate to get at Harry."

"Why don't you like him? I mean, besides for the fact that he chose to be Ron's friend instead of yours."

Draco sighed. "He's up there with his broom and his scar, famous for something he can't remember, snubbing most of the school like we're lower life forms. Haven't you noticed that only Granger and Weasley are worthy of him? Not even you and your little friend are really part of his group."

Meega smiled very slightly. "The same could be said of me. Some of us never get social skills taught to us properly, and Harry was rather downtrodden before he came to Hogwarts. He was completely unloved and unwanted, and then suddenly he was one of the most famous wizards in the world. He hates being famous, and he doesn't even realize that he's closing most of the school out. You do that, too."

"What do you mean?"

Meega sighed. "You walk around with your pair of goons like a king with his official body guard. You make your self completely unapproachable. You had Pansy, too…" Meega trailed off as Draco winced. "I'm sorry, really I am. Pansy wanted a boyfriend she could completely control. She's not good enough for you." She paused, holding out her and conjuring up a small magical music box. It was a fairly ornate silver box, set with tiny emeralds in the lid that were arranges to read:





Meega opened the box, revealing an inscription on the inside of the lid.







Meega nodded in satisfaction, shut the box, and handed it to Draco. "This might help."

Draco looked at the lid oddly, then lifted the lid to look inside at the inscription. Then he looked up at Meega, confused once more. "What is it?"

"A music box."

"How does it work?"

"The instructions are on the inside of the lid."

Draco was starting to look slightly angry. "I can't read it."

"Neither can I, or anyone else. You have to have the key." She conjured up an emerald teardrop about the size of the tip of her pinkie, and her hands were rather long and thin. "Don't loose it. Put it in the box, and don't leave it in or anyone can read it. I wouldn't want you to get teased." She placed it in a little crevice in the front of the box, and the letters on the lid immediately shifted.

Mornië utúlië

Mornië alantië

Draco stared for a moment. "What's that say?"

"Mornië utùlië. Mornië alantië. It's Quenya, which is a language that a Muggle created for a series of books he wrote called _The Lord of the Rings_. There's also a prequel, _The Hobbit_. Mornië utúlië means 'darkness has come' and mornië alantië means 'darkness has fallen.'"

Draco nodded, even though he was obviously still confused, and opened the box.

. Draco . 

When you are in dark times, speak my name.

Meega Kyl-Derc

Draco gave Meega an odd look, and she grinned. "Try it."

Draco shrugged and said, "Meega Kyl-Derc." The box immediately started playing.

May it be

An evening star

Shines down

Upon you

May it be

When darkness falls

Your heart

Will be true

You walk a lonely road

Oh how far you are from home

Mornië utúlië

Believe and you

Will find your way

Mornië alantië

A promise lives

Within you now

May it be

The shadow's call

Will fly away

May it be

You journey on

To light the day

When the night is all gone cold

You may rise

To find the sun

Mornië utúlië

Believe and you

Will find your way

Mornië alantië

A promise lives

Within you now

A promise lives

Within you now...

As the song stopped the emerald fell from the front of the box. Meega carefully placed the emerald inside the box and shut the lid, holding it out to Draco. "I know that Mione won't like this, but… Friends?"

Draco watched the box coldly for a moment before he nodded and took the little silver box from her. "Friends."


	6. Dragon Heart

_Chapter 6 – Dragon Heart_ Part 21 – Hogsmeade 

Meega had always had a passion for dressing up on Halloween, and she'd come up with some pretty impressive costumes without magic and on a very limited budget. Now that she had magic and pretty much unlimited spending, Her costume was _definitely_ going to be impressive.

It was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the school year, a month after school started and a month before the ball. After spending several hours with Mione in Zonko's (and coming out with a bulging bag) and half an hour in Honeydukes (which resulted in another stuffed bag) Meega had lunch. Then she was finally down to the main purpose for dragging herself out of bed and walking down to Hogsmeade early on a Saturday morning. Gladrag's Wizard Wear, as well as a few of the other clothing shops, had stocked Muggle clothing and magic and Muggle costuming.

After a several hour search, Meega had finally found the basic components for her costume. She was smiling as she left the shop, sure that she'd have the best costume of all. She wondered briefly what Draco was going as, then decided she didn't care. It would be fun, and his costume would definitely be dramatic.

She still had a while before she had to be back at school, and so Meega decided to go have a look at the Shrieking Shack, even though she knew that it was not and had never been haunted. She wasn't really paying attention as she walked up there, and was startled to see someone standing alone in front of the famous house and staring up at it. The figure was dressed all in black: slacks and a sleek turtle neck sweater, dragon hide boots, and their winter cloak with the hood up. Meega slowed, surprised to see someone else with similar taste. Since she could chose whatever she wanted to wear that day, she was wearing one of her favorite outfits: comfortably sleek black pants, a thick, fluffy black turtleneck sweater, black boots, and her winter cloak held close as a barrier against the chill. As she walked slowly toward the figure a sudden gust of wind threw back their hood and Meega inhaled sharply. It was Draco Malfoy. His white-blond hair and fairly pale skin made a dramatic contrast against his black clothing, though it was not the same effect that Meega attained with her long, dark hair and pale, freckled skin. Standing there alone he looked lonely and a little lost, making him even more attractive to a loner like Meega.

Draco must have realized that someone was there, because he turned to look at her appraisingly. Meega blushed under his scrutiny and quickly joined him up by the old house. Her blush amused Draco.

"Can the brave little Muggleborn not take a friend looking at her?" He said mirthfully.

"I can take people looking at me, it's them studying me or watching me that disturbs me. I feel like I'm an animal for sale, or one that's about to be dissected."

Draco laughed. "I've never met anyone who's as uncomfortable around people as you are. Most girls would start preening the moment they saw a boy that even just might be looking at them."

"Yeah, well, I've lived a very sheltered life."

"Mine has been anything but sheltered, and still we come out wearing basically the same thing."

"I like black," Meega said evasively.

"And it's an excellent color on you. You look very dramatic."

Meega blushed again. "So do you. But, then, you usually look dramatic. And the forlorn look is good for you."

"What?"

"That whole thing with standing by yourself on the hill and looking lonely."

"Oh. I was just looking at the Shrieking Shack. The most haunted dwelling in Britain, you know."

"Actually, it's not. It's never been haunted."

"What?"

"Remus Lupin was taken there through a secret passage to transform on the full moon while he was at school. The screams and howls and such were his."

"So it was a werewolf, not ghosts."

"Exactly."

"Have you managed to tell Mione that we're friends yet, as you think that it's so important that she knows?"

"Um…"

"I'll take that as a no."

"You try telling your best friend that you've become friends with her least favorite person."

"I've never done that," Draco said stiffly.

"Oh," Meega said in a small voice. "I keep forgetting that you've never managed to find a real friend before." Goyle had chosen Crabbe instead of Draco. Those two had been friends the whole time, but Draco hadn't been anything but a master that they were all too willing to give up when Pansy had taken Crabbe.

"It's not your fault, Meega. I just need a bit more time."

"I should be more sensitive about it. I wasn't thinking."

Draco laughed. "That's a first."

Meega grinned. "Well, the Hat did consider putting me in Ravenclaw."

"Is there any House it _didn't_ consider putting you in?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Yes," Meega said, trying to keep a straight face. "Hufflepuff."

Draco stared for a moment, and then both Slytherins cracked up. Meega was laughing so hard that no sound came out. Her sides were aching and a glance at Draco revealed that he wasn't doing any better.

When they finally managed to stop laughing Draco looked thoughtful for a moment. "But it almost said 'Hufflepuff.'"

"I was being awful to it. Then I threatened its life, if it has one, and it shut up. I didn't, but it Sorted me properly anyway."

Draco looked mildly interested. "I've never heard of something like that happening before."

Meega giggled. "It probably has. Between Fred, George, James Potter, and Sirius Black, somebody has to have taken it upon themselves to annoy it. It did swear for the first time, though."

"It swore at you?"

Meega nodded solemnly. "It was telling me to shut up. Again. I told it that I didn't know it could and it said that it had picked up a few things but never had before. Too many mischief makers too close together, I suppose," she said innocently.

"With that face it's probably just you," Draco said lightly.

"Hey! I'm innocent, I tell you!"

"Unless the charge has anything to do with a particularly intelligent prank."

"I haven't pulled a single one yet."

"And the key word there is 'yet.'"

"Well… yeah."

"I see a Zonko's bag. Something big in planning?"

Meega grinned. "Of course."

Part 22 – One is Silver; the Other, Gold 

"Who was that guy you were talking to by the Shrieking Shack?" Mione asked that night in the Gryffindor common room. "I never really got a good look at him because the two of you were laughing so hard."

"Er… it was Draco Malfoy," Meega muttered, barely audible.

"Did you say that was _Draco Malfoy_ up there with you?" Mione squeaked, stunned. "Did you cast laughing jinxes on each other or something?"

"No, he was already up there when I went to have a look at the Shrieking Shack. He's still very upset about loosing Pansy and Crabbe and Goyle, you know."

"So? What does that have to do with you two laughing?"

"I said something rather insensitive. When I apologized I told him that I hadn't been thinking."

"_That_ set you off?"

"No. He said it was a first and I told him that the Hat had considered putting me in Ravenclaw."

"And _that_ set you off like _that_?"

"Nope. He asked if there was any House that the Hat didn't consider putting me in and I told him Hufflepuff. When I said that we both started busting up. I know that it's not funny now, but it sure as heck was at the time."

"You know, you've really been acting weird about Malfoy since Pansy broke up with him."

"Well… Er… You see, that night…"

"_What the heck **happened**, Meega Ororo Kyl-Derc?_" Mione demanded, alarmed and slightly outraged.

"Nothing!" Meega answered, blushing. "We had a little chat and… well… strictly speaking… we became friends."

"You **_what_**?"

"You see? _That's_ why it took me _two weeks_ to tell you! I _knew_ that you'd _totally freak!_ He's not a bad person! He can't help how he was raised _or_ who he was born!"

"He _can_ help how he acts!"

"Exactly _what_ has Draco done in the last two weeks? He didn't have anything to tell him that he should act any differently. He honestly thought that Harry separated himself from the rest of the school because he was stuck up!"

"Harry?" Mione squeaked with her eyes wide. "How can _Harry_ come off as stuck up?"

"He's famous and antisocial. The second often comes off as arrogance and the first both demands that he be overly social and encourages the belief that he is stuck up. And if this entire House would stop staring at me, then I could have a fight with my best friend in peace!"

Almost everyone in the common room jumped and hurriedly went back to what they had been doing, a good deal of them still halfway watching Meega.

Part 23 – Dragons 

:You're upset, Okassama: Assina said that night, her glow muted with worry.

:I'll be all right, love. Mione's just not speaking to me for a bit. She'll get over it. Once she didn't speak to me for five days because I said that Legolas was addicted to shampoo.:

:If you're sure, Okassama…:

:I am. Go play with Salzari and the others.:

:Yes, Okassama.:

As Assina flitted out of her otherwise empty dorm, Meega looked at her things and realized how drab an impersonal they were. Smiling, she decided that it was time to make herself at home.

The mirror had to be the first thing. It currently was a large oval with a thin gilt frame. She thought for a moment, then smiled and concentrated. The frame thickened, becoming thick ebony with ornate whorls. A dragon crawled out and curled itself around the edge of the frame, its body over the glass with its tail down one side and its neck down the other, her head raised slightly to look at her, its wings partially opened. She was beautiful, deep blue fading deep down to green on her belly and legs, her spinal ridge a dark golden yellow and her wings fading from blue to yellow through the green. The dragon stirred slightly as the talking mirror got used to her new movable portion and then moved to look at herself.

"I like what you've done with me, but you'll have to turn me back at the end of the school year."

"I know, but there's no reason I can't have you how I like you for now. Besides, it's easier to talk to a little dragon than a voice that comes out of nowhere."

The dragon on the mirror laughed, and Meega went on to her vanity. A sliver dragon sat with its wings opened and its tail wrapped around its feet, its hands raised to support the glass top. Its horned head and one of its hands, which held a beautiful, simplistic dish to hold her odds and ends of Muggle makeup, passed through the glass. The dish was round and fairly shallow, delicately carved with repetitive linear designs. Her bedside table she transformed to match, though without the bowl. The hand coming through the table would hold her glasses at night.

Her desk she changed to ebony as well, the legs becoming sensuous rearing dragons and the handles on the drawers becoming small silver dragons. The plain bookends she transformed into pewter. One had a base of stones and a wall of fire rising up, a dragon sitting on its hind legs on the stones and smiling as it apparently examined the flames. The other had a base of pewter crystals, the dragon seated on them recoiling from a wall of waves.

She transformed her bed to ebony, the four posts turning to the same rearing dragons that supported her desk, darkening the emerald hangings and bead spread to a deep green that was one of the colors that she was most comfortable around.

The wardrobe she changed to ebony, the handles to rearing pewter dragons, but left it mostly alone.

The last thing was the lamp mounted on the wall above her desk. The brass oil lamp she changed to near black metal, a dragon's head protruding from an elaborate iron collar. In its mouth was a thin chain, from which hung a metal topped glowing orb with a ring around center, diamond shaped spikes hanging down from the bars that joined ring to lid. Finally finished, Meega flopped on her bed and smiled at her handy work. Soon after she was asleep.

Part 24 – Draconis 

"So, have you talked to your Gryffindor friends at all today?" Draco asked the next evening.

"Er… No. Mione's not speaking to me."

"What? Why not?"

"Um… we had a little… chat… yesterday, and, well… she wasn't too happy about it."

"This is because of me, isn't it?"

"Er…"

"It is. I shouldn't have tried to get you to tell her."

"She would have figured it out sooner or later, and then she'd _really_ be mad at me."

"And she's not now?"

"Not really. She'll adjust. Once she didn't talk to me for five days for insulting a fictitious character. It's not my fault that he was the only one in the movie who never got his hair messed up at all. Give her a week, maybe two, and she'll be talking to me again." Meega could tell that this was going to bother him until Mione was speaking to her again, and so tried to think of something to distract him with. As she glanced around, she saw a chain just peaking out from the collar of his robes. "What's that?"

Draco looked where she indicated and blushed very slightly. "Nothing really. A medallion my father gave me when I started Hogwarts."

"May I see it?"

Draco hesitated a moment, then pulled the long silver chain. On the end, hanging from a small ring that ran through the triple loop at the top, was a pewter ring with a square emerald at each of the compass points. A bronze dragon sat above the bottom stone, its tail hanging down behind the ring, looping once and ending in a little spike. It was roaring, head raised and thrown back, its wings opened to its full three-inch wingspan just above the jewels on the side, one passing behind the ring and the other in front of it.

"It's beautiful," Meega breathed, touching the dragon's little head with a delicate finger.

"It's been passed down for generations, given to the oldest son when he goes to school," Draco told her quietly.

Meega smiled softly. "I've always loved dragons. The real ones are a bit… disappointing."

"What?"

"The ones I read about for years were intelligent, superior to humans, the most wonderful sentient creatures that you could ask for, as full of life as magic, and they lived a _long_ time. You actually kind of remind me of what one might be like if they somehow got trapped in human shape. That never happened with a dragon in any story I've read, but a human once got stuck as a dragon and a unicorn as a human."

Draco cocked an eyebrow in mild interest. "Muggles dream up the most amazing things."

Meega smiled. "There's less limit on what they believe magic can do than on what it really can do. Some probably believe that magic can raise the dead."

Draco nodded solemnly. "They don't know much about magic at all."

"It's a wonderful thing for the Wizarding World, Muggleborns. They don't have the restraints of other wizards, and so can think of things in different ways and expand what we can do with magic."

Draco laughed. "You have very interesting ideas, Meega, and my father wouldn't approve of them at all."

"You can call me Mia if you want, you know. What do you think of my ideas?"

"I think that you see things that other people don't. You understand something of them that few do, and yet you hide from them. I think that you're the most interesting person I've ever met, Mia."

Meega smiled, giving Draco a quick hug, then yawned. "And it's time for this interesting person to go to bed."


	7. The Halloween Ball

_**Chapter 7 – The Halloween Ball**_

**Part 25 – The Day Before**

"Draco, what are you going to the ball as?" Meega might not have cared how her date was going as of a month ago, but today, on the morning of the ball, she did.

Draco looked up from finishing his Divination homework; class was in forty-five minutes and he still hadn't had breakfast. "You'll see tonight," he said as he went back to his assignment: Predict the life of someone in your class from Halloween to the end of November using various methods studied in years past.

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"You'll survive 'til tonight even if I don't," Draco said vaguely as he quickly predicted Morgianna's life for November 26-30.

"How do you know?"

"What?"

"I might not."

"What?"

"I could just keel over."

"What?"

Meega giggled at the totally lost look on Draco's face. "How do you know that I'll survive if you don't tell me?"

Draco smirked. "Because you're a survivor."

Meega shrugged. "I could help my predictions come true. I think that you will break several bones and there's something about another injury in Care of Magical Creatures. You also flunk a Defense Against the Dark Arts test, have your ex-girlfriend try to get you back, and getting slapped by your best friend..." She quickly glanced over her homework, "...three times. I thought it was more, but oh well."

"And why do I get slapped?" Draco inquired.

Meega shrugged. "You probably do something stupid. That's usually how boys end up getting slapped."

"Well, I certainly seem to be having a bad month. Morgianna's came out easily though. For once."

"Yours didn't. Come out, I mean. I've learned some things from Harry and Ron. I made the whole thing up, though some of it probably will happen."

"Like what?"

"From the looks Pansy's been shooting us and the way she's been acting around Crabbe it's fairly safe to say that she'll be trying to get you back, and boy's always do something stupid eventually."

Draco snorted. "Let's go get breakfast."

Meega grinned and they went off for a hurried breakfast before they practically ran up to Divination.

"Today, as you know, we will be sharing your predictions. However, we are going to do something a little different. Hand them to the person you did them for, and they will summarize them for the class."

Meega gave hers to Draco, who gave his to Morgianna, who gave hers to Meega. Crabbe had Pansy, who had done Millicent, who had done Goyle, who had Crabbe's.

"Miss Balrog, you first.

Morgianna stood and picked up Draco's paper. "Today I will get a boyfriend. November first I will make the Quidditch team. November second to the fifth: nothing outstanding. November sixth I will break up with my boyfriend when I discover that he's cheating on me. November seventh and eighth: nothing outstanding. November ninth: I will get a new boyfriend. Nothing outstanding until the seventeenth: when my ex-boyfriend will try to assault my new boyfriend. Nothing outstanding until the twenty-fifth: when I will pass a pop quiz. Nothing outstanding for the rest of the month."

"You seem to have very little happening of great importance. What is the outcome of the assault?"

"My ex gets turned into a rat."

"Five points to Slytherin for Mr. Malfoy's hard work. Miss Bulstrode?"

"Nothing outstanding until November fifteenth: when I get a boyfriend; and nothing after that."

"Does it say anything about your boyfriend?"

"Only that he's a friend."

"I see. Very disappointing, Miss Parkinson. Mr. Crabbe, if you will read yours?"

"November third. My girlfriend will get sick. November seventh. I will get sick. November fifteenth. We're both better. November twenty-ninth. I pass a test in Potions."

"Hmm…an improvement. Now to Mr. Goyle, who now needs to read his."

"Nothing outstanding. My life will continue as normal, except I will get a girlfriend in mid November and I will pass three quizzes throughout the month and flunk five tests."

"Five points to Miss Bulstrode for her honesty. Miss Parkinson."

"On November fifteenth I have a fight with my boyfriend. We make up on the twentieth."

She sighed and shot a nasty look at Crabbe. Meega could tell she was getting very tired of having only a few students who tried at all. "Mr. Malfoy."

"Tonight I'm going to be slapped by my best friend. Tomorrow I will have a bad hair day. On November third I will meet a convicted murderer. On November sixth I will break my arm at Quidditch practice. On the tenth I will flunk a Defense Against the Dark Arts test and break my leg. On the twelfth I'll have my ex-girlfriend trying to get back with me. On the thirteenth I will receive scratches from a Salamander in Care of Magical Creatures and get slapped. On the sixteenth I will be bewitched. On the twenty-first I will get slapped again. On the Twenty-seventh I will drown, and survive despite the water in my lungs."

Meega grinned. The second two were going to happen.

"You poor dear, you seem to be having an awful month. Ten points to Miss Kyl-Derc. It's you're turn, my dear."

Meega looked down at the paper she'd been given and raised her eyebrow. "Perhaps I should read it word for word. 'Meega Kyl-Derc, Predictions for Halloween to November 30. Halloween: that 'beep' gets her first kiss. November 1: She somehow gets on the Quidditch team. I've seen her fly, there's no way that skill could do it. I bet the one she was kissing was the team captain.'" Meega paused and looked up, "I have no intention of ever kissing Warrington. 'November 3: She speaks to a dangerous acquaintance, whom she hasn't seen for two months. The acquaintance is handsome and has been wrongly accused. November 5: She writes to her dangerous acquaintance. November 7: She receives a reply. November 10: She writes him again. What is this guy, her boyfriend?'" Meega paused again "No, actually, if he is who I think then he's old enough to be my father and I've never had a boyfriend. That wouldn't be my first kiss if I had one with someone who was 'dangerous' and 'handsome.' Well, apparently, 'She's in touch with this guy for the remainder of the month. November 21: That ' beep 'gets a boyfriend. November 30: She receives a gift of some sort from a male.'"

"I see. Five points to Slytherin and a detention for Miss Balrog."

Meega smirked slightly. She'd be getting more than that.

Part 26 – The Gift   
Meega scrutinized her reflection, adjusting her costume slightly and running her fingers through her hair. Her gown was almost off her shoulders and a little low cut, but she looked absolutely amazing in it. There was a black stripe around the top of the sleeves and curving over her breasts. The rest of the dress was white. The sleeves were slashed from wrist to elbow and the skirt slashed up the side of her left leg to a little above mid thigh and all the way up the front of her right leg to the front of her hip. The slashed skirt revealed a black under skirt, and the sleeves fell open to reveal snug black sleeves that ended in points on her hands. It was backless to allow for a pair of elegant, iridescent silver dragonfly wings. Her dark hair was loose and slightly damp, her lipstick and eye makeup darker than usual, though still relatively light. Smiling, the "fairie" left her dorm to meet her date in the common room. Draco only took a moment to spot in the common room. He was, once more, dressed all in black, and he was absolutely gorgeous. He was wearing dragon hide pants and boots and an old fashioned pirate's shirt, unlaced with his talisman showing on his exposed chest. The finishing touch was a pair of large feathered wings that reminded her of Nevermore's. 

Draco smiled when he saw her, his unnerving, sedate gaze sweeping over her familiarly and a slightly possessive glint in his stormy, pale gray eyes. Meega blushed and dropped her eyes as she joined him, and he smirked and offered her his arm. They left the Slytherin common room together, looking a bit like Titiana and Oberon.

Before they reached the Great Hall, though, Draco pulled Meega aside into an empty classroom.

"Draco, what-"

"I got you something, Mia." Draco interrupted.

Meega blinked. "Oh."

Draco handed Meega a black velvet box, and she opened it, obviously curious. When she saw what was inside, she gasped.

It was a necklace—a pentagram with a dragon on either side, their wings stretched out behind them as they clung to the ring, their noses nestled in beside the base of the top point and their tails entwined.

"It—it's beautiful."

Draco smirked. "I thought you'd like it. Here, the clasp is a little tricky." He put the necklace on Meega, careful not to catch her hair. It went perfectly with her costume. "I put some protective enchantments on it—you're rash enough to need them, though I'd be more comfortable with you wearing it even if you weren't. Things are getting dangerous."

Meega snorted. "Voldemort again. It's sweet of you to worry about me, though. If it'll make you feel better, I'll wear it. Come on—let's get to the dance."

**Part 27 – Dinner**

The Great Hall was filled with colorful costumes. There were traditional things—pixies, devils, and other fairies, if none so spectacular as the pair of Slytherins. Morrigan had indeed convinced Snape to be her escort, and they had come as vampires, Snape in a black tuxedo and Nymph in a beautiful black and red dress, her long pale hair dyed black. Fred and George were a pair of carrots, Mione and Ron were Cleopatra and Marc Antony, and Harry and Hermione were cats. The house tables were temporarily annulled, and so Meega dragged Draco over to sit with the Trio, Mione, and the Weasley twins—Ginny was off somewhere with her friends, and the twins were . . . well . . . being Fred and George. For one reason or another they'd both decided to go stag, and they were there to "keep an eye on Ickle Ronniekins on his first real date."

Draco was obviously uncomfortable sitting with the Gryffindors, especially since they kept shooting him dirty looks. After several minutes of silence, Meega turned pointedly to Mione. "So, Cleopatra, everything's set for the third, right?"

Mione glanced pointedly at Fred, George, and Draco, then nodded.

"Good. I _am_ bringing him."

Harry tensed slightly. "I still don't like the idea. I don't trust him."

"_I_ do. If he causes any problems, then we can fix things with a simple spell. I mean, If Lockhart can manage it anyone can. Besides, you can't really keep me from bringing him."

Mione sighed, shaking her head. "Give up, Harry. She's impossible when she's dead set on something. Personally, I think she likes him."

"I do not! Shut up or I'll tell them everyone you liked at one point . . . all three of them . . . despite your denials."

"Then I'll tell them about your old crush."

"I wouldn't care. I was twelve and I'd never met him. Of course, I might have to do something drastic if you do."

"You said you wouldn't care."

"That doesn't mean I wouldn't do something drastic."

Draco cleared his throat noisily. "Will you two quit that? It's annoying."

Meega shut up, and Mione smirked at her, which caused Meega to toss a roll at her friend . . . which Harry snatched out of the air.

"I hate to say this, but I agree with Malfoy. You two shut up and eat."

**Part 28 – Reason #1 Not to Flirt with a Death Eater's Son**

Usually, when the music started at a dance, Meega would sit out for a few songs before going out on the floor. Draco, however, took Meega onto the floor right away, pulling her easily into the dance. He was an excellent dancer—which made perfect sense when Meega thought about it for a moment, as he was an aristocrat. Meega's natural inclination when dancing was to tense up, which made her very bad at following, but a friend of hers had eventually gotten her to loosen up when she was dancing. As a result, she was a decent dancer, and could teach boys how to dance fairly well, but she was no where near the level that most of the girls he had probably danced with before—with the obvious exception of Pansy Parkinson.

Draco didn't really seem to mind that Meega wasn't the best dancer, or that she positioned herself about six inches from him, especially since as she got more comfortable dancing with him half the distance promptly disappeared. When the song finished, Meega slipped off to have her promised dance with Neville, and Draco seemed almost to be sulking as she did, and Meega thought that he was being vaguely possessive when she returned for the next dance. After a while, Meega relaxed enough to actually start talking to Draco. They chatted comfortably about nothing for some time before Draco casually said something that completely shocked Meega.

"People are going to think you were lying in class today, about having never had a boyfriend."

"I'm used to it. It has a tendency to . . . completely shock people . . . for some reason."

"It's not even that you're fifteen and have never had a boyfriend. You see, rumor is that you're going out with Longbottom."

Meega stopped dead. "_What?_ That's . . . unbelievable!"

Draco smirked, looking pleased. "I take it you're not, then."

Meega shook her head and allowed Draco start dancing again. "He asked me to the dance right after you did, and I promised him a dance and taught him, very basically, how to dance. Neville and I get along very well, but we're _not_ going out." She sighed softly, listening. Her favorite song was playing.

Starry, starry night  
Paint your palette blue and grey  
Look out on a summer's day  
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul  
Shadows on the hills  
Sketch the trees and daffodils  
Catch the breeze and the winter chills  
In colours on the snowy linen land

Now I understand  
What you tried to say to me  
And how you suffered for your sanity  
And how you tried to set them free  
They would not listen  
They did not know how  
Perhaps they'll listen now

Starry, starry night   
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze  
Swirling clouds and violet haze  
Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue  
Colours changing hue  
Morning fields of amber grain  
Weathered faces lined in pain  
Are soothed beneath the artists' loving hand

Now I understand  
What you tried to say to me  
And how you suffered for your sanity  
And how you tried to set them free  
They would not listen  
They did not know how  
Perhaps they'll listen now 

For they could not love you  
But still your love was true   
And when no hope was left inside  
On that starry, starry night   
You took your life as lovers often do  
But I could have told you Vincent  
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you

Like the strangers that you've met  
The ragged men in ragged clothes  
The silver thorn of bloody rose  
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know  
What you tried to say to me  
And how you suffered for your sanity  
And how you tried to set them free  
They would not listen  
They're not listening still  
Perhaps they never will...

"Mia?"

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever heard that song before?"

"Yes, it's my favorite, a Muggle song. It's called 'Vincent,' or, more commonly, 'Starry, Starry Night.' The Vincent referred to is Vincent van Gogh, an insane painter who, I believe, both cut off his ear and killed himself. I'm not quite sure. His work is wonderful, though."

"Oh."

"It sounds like the song would be depressing when you put it that way, doesn't it? Most people view it as a love song."

Draco shook his head and muttered something about the insanity of Muggles in general.

Meega laughed. "Your average Muggle is no more insane than your average wizard. I'm not saying that either is _sane_, but neither is more insane than the other."

Draco shook his head in defeat. "Your logic is giving me a headache."

"Logic? What logic?" Meega laughed the look on Draco's face. "I'm joking, I'm joking! What did they do, breed out your sense of humor? It's like you've forgotten how to laugh tonight." She sighed, pushing her obstinate hair out of her face. "It's hot in here; let's go outside."

An odd look passed over Draco's face almost too fast for Meega to see, and then he nodded. They went out into the rose garden. On the way in Meega cupped one of the blossoms on the deep red climbing roses that formed an arch at the beginning of the path, inhaling the scent and smiling softly in pleasure.

"These are Don Juan," she told Draco quietly. "I had some at home, fully grown, the top just at the base of my window." She chuckled faintly. "It seems kind of silly, being able to tell so easily what kind they are, but I had four bushes and my Don Juan, and I can recognize each of them immediately."

"It's not silly," Draco said gently. "I have things like that, too. Roses are much better than mine."

Meega shifted uncomfortably, and they walked in a silence that was only broken when Meega stopped to smell and name her other bushes when they appeared.

"You can still hear the music," Meega said after a while.

Draco nodded silently.

Meega sighed and stopped at the edge of the path, running her fingers through her hair. "Look, I know you're dad is a Death Eater. I'm getting tired of these awkward pauses whenever conversation goes towards your family life or childhood. I don't want to know all your deep dark secrets, but I would like to be able to hold a normal conversation with you without your father getting in the way."

Draco smiled wryly. "I knew I should have tried harder to keep you away from those bloody Gryffindors."

"This has nothing to do with them. I knew before I'd met you; I'd suspected since I was twelve, though I didn't hear the title 'Death Eater' until I was . . . fourteen, I think. I didn't care; I was more interested in Harry and his friends' adventures. Your father—and you—were simply antagonists, and not particularly interesting, especially when compared with Snape and Voldemort."

Draco looked charmingly perplexed. "What do you mean?"

Meega bit the inside of her lower lip delicately, closing her eyes for a moment. She hadn't really planned on telling him; she had just started talking. "You see, the truth is . . . the truth is, that Mione and I are from another reality. We were talking on the telephone—Muggle form of fairly instantaneous communication, kind of like what wizards do with—never mind, if I try to explain that, I'll have to explain electricity, which will take too much time. If you take Muggle Studies then I will be able to tell you exactly what happened. Anyway, Mione and I were simultaneously struck by lightening, and we woke up here. Or, rather, on the Knight Bus. I suppose at home we're dead or in comas or something. If we're in comas, we'll have to go back eventually, when we wake up there. Anyway, in our reality, all this . . . it's a book series. I know the truth of matters here as well as Harry does. Perhaps I know a little better or a little worse in some parts. However, I have a better grasp on this reality than some people back home. Fans of the books, and later the movies, write stories about the characters. Romances were very popular, as the majority of the authors seem to be teenage girls. Among all the fics, I think that _probably_ everyone ends up in love with everyone else at some point . . . including those of their own gender."

Draco looked suddenly disgusted.

"Yeah. That's what I thought. J. K. Rowling—the author of the books—is writing for children. Everybody's strait."

"One would hope," Draco drawled. "Though Death Eater activities are not exactly fit for a children's book."

Meega shrugged. "There's one book per school year, and book four was out when I got zapped. The entire world was on the edge of their seats, waiting to find out what happened to Harry with Voldemort returned. My grandmother read them. The fourth book is over seven hundred pages. It's really for older children and adults, with the basic battle between good and evil, everyone having morals, and people behaving politely once in a while. Choices are unrealistically clean-cut. You can look and see that Voldemort's evil and Harry would be immediately sainted if he wasn't a fairly obstinate teenage boy who wields magical powers. People in my world classified themselves by house or house they believe they would be alumni of and occupation if they were adults and some people—I've only ever seen 'Slytherins' do it—would claim they were Death Eaters. I suppose that people are the same everywhere."

Draco shook his head. "That whole story is completely implausible . . . which might be why I believe every word of it."

"Good. I'm telling the truth. If you ever show up there and people know who you are, you'd have roughly eleven million girls trying to attract your attention. I would not be one of them."

Draco arched an eyebrow. "Really."

"Really. You would be considered the enemy, and likely to become a Death Eater. I would be hunting out Sirius, Remus, and Harry—and I suppose Ron and Hermione—to go on a Wormtail hunt, as well as Professor Dumbledore and Snape . . . just because they're awesome. Mione and I will probably have to tell Dumbledore everything by the end of the year, I suppose."

"Yet you haven't"

"I came here, you didn't go there. I have one person backing me up instead of millions. It doesn't work the same. Oh, I like this song." Meega grabbed Draco's hands and pulled him out into the middle of the path. "Come on, let's dance."

Draco smirked down at Meega as they danced to the distant, if still clearly audible, music, causing the other Slytherin to giggle. A breeze danced through the garden, causing Meega to shiver ethereally, and a slight frown creased Draco's finely featured face.

"You're cold."

"Not very," Meega murmured inattentively. "It's only a little chilly."

"You're shivering. I think it's time for you to go back in."

"It's not that cold," Meega insisted. "It's all hot and stuffy in there."

Draco's frown deepened slightly, and then he pulled Meega closer and wrapped his wings around her. "If you're going to insist on staying out here, there's no reason for you to freeze," he told her mildly.

Meega, though faintly uncomfortable with her close proximity to Draco, had to admit that it was warmer with his wings wrapped around her, and so didn't pull away. As the music floated over them, Meega closed her eyes, relaxing. Then, quite suddenly, she felt something she never had before, and her eyes sprung open.

Draco Malfoy, Slytherin pretty boy and Hogwarts bad boy, was kissing her, his lips lightly touching hers.

Meega's mind wasn't quite functioning properly, and so she immediately reverted to the instinctive level.

She slapped him.

Draco pulled away sharply, stunned, his wings falling back into the resting position. His eyes met Meega's, a slightly hurt look residing in them, and he touched his cheek gingerly.

Meega fled, barely glancing back, leaving him with a whispered apology.

Song Credits:

_Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)_, original lyrics and music by Don McLean, arranged by David Foster, sung by Josh Groban.


	8. Of Plots and Quidditch

_**Chapter 8 – Of Plots and Quidditch**_

**Part 29 – Talking to Meira**

Meega went back to her dorm, where Assina and her friendly, draconian mirror were waiting for her. The tiny Flufglow was already more distressed than Meega was over the whole thing, and her anxiety agitated the mirror.

"Darling, your little ward is all upset about something," the mirror said patiently.

"You know, you can call me Meega."

"Meira. Now, what's the little thing all upset about?"

"The fact that something just happened that left me rather distraught and disconcerted, I suppose." She turned to the little sliver ball of light and fluff. :Is that it, Assina:

:Hai, Okassama. Why are you so upset:

:It's . . . a human thing. Something similar might disturb you when you're older . . . you reach maturity around seven, so perhaps shortly before that.:

:I don't understand.:

:You're not supposed to. Yet.:

:Oh.:

"Assina says that's it."

"Well, then, Meega, why are _you_ so upset? Shouldn't you be at a dance right now?"

"I suppose. I . . . decided to come back early."

Meira snorted. "Come on, I used to be a woman. It's that boy you were dressing up for, isn't it? Did you find out he likes someone else?"

"I wasn't dressing up for him," Meega insisted sulkily. "What do you mean, you used to be a woman?"

"_Sure_. Just because I've been a mirror for several hundred years doesn't mean that I don't know anything about men and men problems. Especially since I've spent a lot of that time as the sole confidant of one young lady or another. I haven't told any of their secrets yet, and it helps to talk about it. Spill."

"What do you mean that you used to be a woman?" Meega insisted.

Meira sighed. "Let's just say that I had a choice between certain death and having my soul trapped in a mirror forever. I chose this odd genus of immortality over death. Now spill, you'll feel a lot better when you do."

"I still wasn't dressing up for him," Meega said sulkily. "I dress up for the heck of it on Halloween."

"And what happened?"

Meega gently reached up to finger the pendant that hung around her neck, then shook her head as if to dislodge a persistent vision. She looked strait at the dragon on the mirror's frame with her knees pulled up under her chin as she sat on he bed, obviously feeling highly insecure. "He kissed me, Meira," Meega whispered hoarsely. "_Draco Malfoy_ kissed me. It was hot in the Great Hall, so I suggested we go out side. I ended up telling him all about how Mione and I got here, and that all this is fiction where we're from, and—" Meega's voice cracked, and the tears that had been threatening to fall started streaming down her face as she sat sobbing on the bed. "Oh, Meira, what can I do?" Meega managed to mumble through her sobs.

"Well, the first question really is—how do you feel about him?"

"I—I don't _know_. He's nice, and polite enough, and good-looking, and he's one of my best friends . . . but I hadn't even _thought_ about him that way! He's _Draco Malfoy_, for goodness sake! His father's a Death Eater, and until Pansy dumped him I was sure he would be, too, and just as much of a suck-up about it. Then he asked me to the ball, and Pansy dumped him, and everything got turned upside-down. Then I realized that he wasn't really the prick he seemed, and that he really needed a friend."

"You."

Meega nodded. "I was already an outcast among the Slytherins, and now that he had no ersatz friends, he felt that _he_ was. It was . . . hard . . . to see him . . . like that. He should be, by birth and tutelage, lofty, arrogant, and perhaps even evil. I had to help him back to that as much as I could . . . though he's not exactly _evil_ anymore."

"You have too much spirit to fit well with the Slytherins, even if your personality was anything like theirs."

"Draco said something like that, something about me having too much spirit for my own good."

"What does this boy you're mooning over look like?"

"I'm not _mooning_," Meega growled, glaring at Meira. However, she obliged the mirror by conjuring up a miniature image of Draco in his costume that night. The image rotated in front of the mirror once before dissipating.

The dragon on the mirror hummed appreciatively. "That's definitely one worth mooning over. I'm not saying you should marry him, but you seem to like him well enough, and he's definitely a dish."

Meega narrowed her eyes at the mirror dragon, growling faintly.

Meira chuckled. "Don't worry, little one. I'm not going to do anything but look at him. I won't even talk to him. I really think you should give him a chance though. If he cares enough about you to let it show after what I surmise he's been through, then he definitely cares a lot. Besides, I somehow doubt he's anything if not an excellent kisser."

Meega _hmphed_ and drew her curtains around her. "I slapped him," she shouted through the heavy curtains.

"Well, then you'll have to make amends."

Meega sighed, opening her curtains again and looking at Meira. "He looked so _hurt_ after I slapped him. I don't know if he'll ever talk to me again. He opened himself up to me more, which was exactly what I wanted, and then I slapped him and ran away. I—I wasn't thinking at all, was I?"

"If you're trying to get me to tell you to go and kiss this Draco right now, it's not happening. He kissed you and you didn't want to be kissed, and so you were perfectly right to slap him. If you went running back now, it would only make matters worse. Don't even mention the kiss in the morning; just act like nothing happened and try to continue as normal. It'll be a bit tense at first, but then you can just let things go on naturally, and you'll know that he likes you."

Meega nodded, then glanced towards Assina. Salzari was with her.

:Assina, was Salzari sent with a message for me:

:Her father says he is sorry, Okassama. He says he hopes you can still be friends. What happened, Okassama:

:Nothing that won't wait until you're older, Assina. Have Salzari tell Draco that I hope things won't change because of tonight.:

The message was delivered, and for once Meega was perfectly aware that she was being insensitive. Everything had been going on so nicely. Then he'd kissed her. She didn't want anything to change . . . At least not yet.

Part 30 – A Well Schemed Prank 

Hours later, Meega was sneaking into the boys' dorms. Everyone was sleeping, and she carefully conducted her prank on every fifth year boy, then snuck back into the girls' dorms to victimize her housemates. Her last victim was herself, and then she destroyed the evidence. There was now no one who could be blamed for her antics, with no way that it could be someone from another house, every fifth year victimized, and no evidence to link anyone to the caper.

The next morning Meega woke first as usual. She got up groggily, went over to the dozing Meira, and smirked. Everything was working perfectly. She closed her eyes, carefully clearing her face of all emotion, then looked in the mirror again and screamed. Everyone in their year woke immediately, and probably most from the rest of the house. When the girls saw her, her face was distorted in a look of horror and her hair was white.

"My _hair_! _SOMEONE'S DYED MY HAIR!_"

The other girls started sniggering . . . until they saw their own hair.

Meega had to work very hard to keep from smiling blissfully as they all gave genuine screams of terror and disgust, just as the other girls started trying to see what was the matter in the fifth year dorm.

They saw immediately. Morgianna's hair was hunter orange. Pansy's was neon pink. Millicent's was bright purple.

The commotion continued as all the fifth years, male and female, thundered out into the common room, demanding the identity of the culprit.

Adam Nott's hair was neon green. Morag MacDougal's was electric blue. Draco's was harshly silver. Crabbe's was fuchsia. Goyle's was aquamarine. Blaise Zabini's was avocado.

It was all Meega could do not to purr in satisfaction. Especially since Quidditch tryouts were in half an hour, and Morgianna would have to choose between missing tryouts and going with orange hair.

Half an hour later, several Slytherins were assembled on the Quidditch Pitch. Unfortunately, Morgianna was among them. She had her hair twisted up under her hat, but her orange tresses were still distinctly evident. The tryouts were over in a flash, and Meega found herself being dismissed with the others, with a promise that this year's team would be posted by the end of the week.

Part 31 – Caught 

When about half of her victims had discovered the cure for her prank, Meega fixed her hair and Draco's. He called Salzari over, and she brought Assina with her.

:He thinks you 'pulled it,' Kassan.:

:I did.:

:He wants to know why.:

:Because I knew everyone would be sleeping _very_ soundly last night, and the opportunity was too good to pass up.:

Draco cocked his head, listening to Salzari, then laughed. Meega raised her eyebrow facilely, putting a finger to her lips. Draco's gaze lingered a moment too long on her mouth, his gaze regaining some of the hurt for a moment. Meega shifted uncomfortable rubbing the side of her nose with one finger. It was one thing to be talking to him, and it was another thing completely for him to make it painfully evident that he desperately wished that his kiss had ended differently the night before. Meega simply wished it had not happened to complicate her life.

However, she was still wearing the necklace Draco gave her.

Meega spent the morning too-casually with Draco, and it was several hours later when she found herself walking past Snape's office alone.

"I would like to congratulate you on your prank this morning. The organization of it was genius that was rarely shown by the Marauders themselves. Of course, they never cared if they were caught or not."

Meega froze, then very slowly turned to face Severus Snape.

"Sir."

"Did you have an accomplice, or did you accomplish that on your own?"

Meega glanced down the hall, wondering how long it was before someone else came down the hall.

"Come in. Perhaps we should have a little chat."

Meega obediently entered the Potion Master's office. As soon as he had shut the door, however, she started talking. "Draco had nothing to do with it, sir, and the password's changed since I gave it to Mione, and since the time I brought her down, they have had no access to the Slytherin common room, the Gryffindors are better about having a Slytherin in their midst."

"Is that a confession, Miss Kyl-Derc?" Snape asked mildly, raising one eyebrow. "I'm not interested in your confessions. You left no evidence that you—or, indeed anyone else—performed the prank last night. However, in the future, you might want to cure yourself when you would have found out if you were truly a victim instead of in the middle of everyone else. If you had, it would have been much harder for me to surmise that you were the culprit. And to keep your housemates off your trail, make a show of working on it in the common room—and make some mistakes."

"Are you offering me _prank_ advice?" Meega asked incredulously.

"Officially, there is no evidence that the _'prank'_ played on your year was actually a prank. Officially, it must have been a random fluctuation of magic or the backlash of a spell—or several. Of course, Professor Dumbledore knows the truth, but he pretends that he doesn't. However, I meant to have a chat with you today for reasons that have nothing to do with the _accident_ last night."

Meega could recognize a favor and the end of a particular strain of conversation when she saw them. She could also scent trouble very easily.

"What?" she asked warily.

"Several weeks ago, I desired to write a letter to your parents in America, commending you for your excellent performance in Potions, and with a wand at all, as you've never used one before."

Meega winced. "I take it there was no family name Kyl-Derc, or if there was they swore they did not have a daughter named Meega."

The professor's eyes flashed. "Precisely. I could not discover your parents, and when I attempted to contact you through your old school, they informed me that a Meega Ororo Kyl-Derc had never attended. Also, every Ashley Green that had ever attended had either previously graduated or was still in attendance. It is as though you and your little friend did not exist until approximately two months before you arrived at Hogwarts."

"I'd rather not discuss how I came to be here right now, Professor, sir," Meega said rigidly. "I had a . . . startling . . . experience last night when I told one of my friends."

"Is that why you were without either Mr. Malfoy or your Gryffindor friends? I should have known. Still, Miss Kyl-Derc, we must take our precautions. You can either tell me or Professor Dumbledore and myself."

Meega swallowed, closing her eyes for a moment and breathing slowly. She nodded, and then opened her eyes.

"All right. Take me up to Professor Dumbledore's office so I can tell you both at once."

Part 32 – Lying by Omission _or_ The Benefits of Obsession 

After a quick detour to pick up Mione and Professor McGonagall, the two girls found themselves facing Albus Dumbledore across his desk, each with their respective head of house at their back. Meega shifted uncomfortably and glanced at Mione, who gave her a small shrug and a pointed look. Meega sighed, and then began her tale.

"Mione and I are from another world. You see, in our world, _your_ world, Muggles and all, are characters in a book series. At the time we were struck by lightening and woke up here only the first four books were out, one for each of Harry's first four years of school." She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and recited the familiar titles. "_Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone _(they made it "Sorcerer's Stone" for us Americans because they were being stupid), _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_, _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_, and _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_. They're very popular, and because of them many children have started reading again. There have also been people who claim the books are evil, but whatever. People of all ages love the books. They write fanfictions, stories written by fans of books, movies, etc., and Sort themselves into Houses and sometimes even decide on jobs. Some even go so far as to claim that they are Death Eaters.

"At first I was a classic fan of the light side—my favorite character was Harry, I would not accept the possibility that I might belong in a House other than Gryffindor, and I despised all Slytherins, including Professor Snape. By the time we were zapped, however, I had loosened up and started forming my own ideas. I saw that I could fit comfortably in any house except Hufflepuff, and, not to sound obsequious, Professor Snape was my favorite character. I got to know more of his story, and came to appreciate the world he lives in. There are plenty of theories as to why he hates the Marauders, most of them dealing with romantic reasons—and only one of those was anywhere _near_ likely. I'll spare you all the dramas that got cooked up about the Marauder-Snape rivalry. However, I could tell you various facts to prove our story if you would like."

"You have been at Hogwarts for two months; what could you tell us that would prove your story?"

Meega made a slightly disgruntled noise. "Harry's middle name is James, his father's name. You, Professor Snape, detest him because you detested his father. You are a Death Eater, but returned to our side before Harry's parents were murdered, and you would much prefer the Defense Against the Dark Arts position to that of Potions Master. You spent years of your life hating a group of boys that you could have gotten along wonderfully with, had you been a Gryffindor instead of a Slytherin or less constrained by the traditional House boundaries, which are stronger between Gryffindors and Slytherins than anywhere else. You, Professor McGonagall, are an Animagus, and turn into a cat. You knew the Marauders when they were at Hogwarts. You were often harsh with Wormtail, who, by the way, deserved all of it and more, and will _not_ be happy if I get my hands on him, though I _will_ make sure to save plenty for Sirius, Remus, and Harry—not to mention Ron. And Professor Dumbledore, you like socks, and sometimes seem to _encourage_ mischief at Hogwarts. Your sanity seems questionable, but you are dangerous and serious when you have to be." Nothing seemed to convince them. "Sirius Black is innocent, and Wormtail is the real culprit. Three of the four Marauders were Animagi, and the fourth Remus, called Moony, is a Werewolf. Sirius, or Padfoot, turns into a huge black dog; James was Prongs and transformed into a stag; Peter Pettigrew is Wormtail, turns into a rat, and betrayed the Potters to Voldemort." There was nothing except for a flinch or two behind her at the sound of the Dark Lord's name. Meega sighed. "After the Third Task, Voldemort rose again. He used a potion that involved part of his father's skeleton, Wormtail's right hand, and some of Harry's blood. The events of the night, which I would prefer not to detail, ended in Harry being rather . . . depressed . . . and you, Professor Dubledore, sir, to part ways with the idiotic Cornelius Fudge and attempt to save the Wizarding World." They still seemed unconvinced. Meega gave a disgusted noise. "If you want, I can detail Harry's dream from the summer before his fourth year, which not even _he_ can do! I only know, for the most part, what Harry knows, the books are pretty much from his point of view!"

Professor Dumbledore said nothing, but simply raised an eyebrow in a manner that left plenty of room for interpretation.

"A little help, Mione?"

Mione shrugged. "Sorry, obscure Canon is more your department."

Meega growled in frustration. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Chapter One: The Boy Who Lived.

"'Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.

"'Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.

"'The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.

"'When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.

"'None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.' I believe that is enough from that. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Chapter Five: The Whomping Willow. I'll skip the first several paragraphs." Meega continued to quote the part where Ron and Harry arrived in there second year and were caught by Professor Snape, right up to the place where Harry says he didn't think and Professor McGonagall says that is obvious. And then . . .

"Enough of that one. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Chapter Fourteen: Snape's Grudge. Again, I won't start at the beginning of the chapter." She launched into the section where Professor Snape forced Harry to turn out his pockets and was insulted by the Maurader's Map. Professor Snape looked like he would dearly like to interrupt but didn't quite dare. Mione was clearly shocked. Dumbledore looked highly amused. Meega had pretty much forgotten her audience and had gotten caught up in quoting the books.

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Chapter Eighteen: The Weighing of the Wands. I'll skip to the weighing itself, which is a bit into the chapter." Then her tirade followed, from the moment Professor Dumbledore entered the broom closet to the end of the weighing, when Mr. Ollivander completed his examination of Harry's wand. She was about to continue when Mione spoke up.

"Meega, you had _no life_. It must have taken _months_ to memorize all that!"

"Huh? Dunno. Part of it was for a speech in school, and my sister made me memorize part of it . . . I have a good chunk of the series memorized, now. Especially parts where people get insulted or it's a major plot point."

"Why when people get insulted?"

"Because it's funny and a good way to keep people who aren't the least bit interested in the books from zoning out."

"I believe that proves your story, Miss Kyl-Derc," Professor Dumbledore interjected. "You and Miss Green will stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas and Easter holidays, and I will arrange a place for you to stay over the summer. I'm sure you both have other pressing matters to attend to, and so I'll let you go, now."

Meega nodded, and she and Mione stood and descended the stairs with their rather shocked teachers.

"I'm going to go skulk around the dungeons some more, Mione, I'll talk to you tonight if I remember."

Mione laughed and left, Professor McGonagall going off towards her office in a daze. Meega and Snape, who were both going down into the dungeons, walked in silence until Meega was about to leave the path to his office.

"Just so you know, I'm not the perfect angel everyone thinks I am for some reason. I just forgive my past errors, Professor. You should too. Holding grudges against yourself isn't healthy." She left before the professor could reply.

Severus Snape stood in silence for a moment as the girl left and then shook his head and went into his office. The girl genuinely respected him, which didn't happen very often. "The reason people think you are an angel is because you will forgive anyone of anything, even if they cannot forgive themselves."


	9. Integrating the Enemy

_**Chapter 9 – Integrating the Enemy**_

**Part 33 – Blonde**

The next day Meega dragged Draco over to the Gryffindor common room. Neither the Gryffindors nor Draco was happy about it, but she wasn't about to be put off by _that_. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Meega broke it with a disgruntled sigh.

"What's your problem with Draco? I want an explanation that has nothing to do with his father."

"There's the way he acts towards us . . . "

"You mean the way he _acted_ because of a simple misinterpretation of your behavior, Harry."

"And the fact that he's a—"

"Don't want to hear it, Ron."

"Meega, you're dead set on the fact that he's really a good person, but _we've_ seen no proof of that."

Meega shrugged. "I've seen plenty. He's no angel, but he's definitely not the demon you all seem to think he is. So get on with it. When are we meeting where tomorrow?"

Harry sighed, glanced at Ron, Hermione, and Mione, and started talking.

"After our last class, at the base of the Whomping Willow. Don't move en masse—we're trying to make this look like it's not planned. The last thing we need is Snape breathing down our necks. He would have no problem busting a couple of Slytherins to nick us. From there . . . we go to the Shack."

I nodded. "Simple, straightforward, and not going to work."

"Why?"

"Because it will look bloody suspicious, that's why! It would look a heck of a lot less suspicious if we move en masse, as we all have the same class. Otherwise I'd have to make it look like I was running off to snog Draco, which is not on the top of my list of ways to survive my fifth year. Pansy was trying to make him jealous, and she hates me enough for spoiling her plan without her thinking that he likes me." Draco winced slightly and rubbed his nose awkwardly, and Meega gave him a wry smile. "She'll try to get you back before too long. If you're smart you'll reject her—very publicly. It would be good for that reputation of yours."

Draco rolled his eyes. "I hadn't planned on going back out with some bird who dumped me for Crabbe."

The Gryffindors snorted with laughter, and Meega gave them a look that clearly said _And you're laughing now . . . why? Old news, and not funny._

"Okay, we'll make it look planned. See you all tomorrow at the Whomping Willow."

Meega turned to leave, shaking her head at the immaturity of her Gryffindor friends, and stopped dead.

"_Morrigan?_ How did you get rid of all that dye?"

The seventh year girl, her hair clear of any trace of the black dye she'd worn two nights before, cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "Magic."

That was all they got out of her.

Part 34 – Going to Meet a Murderer . . . or is it a Marauder? 

The next day after Care of Magical Creatures the four Gryffindors and two Slytherins wandered over to Whomping Willow. Draco was watching the tree warily with one eye, the Gryffindors with the other, and trying to avoid Meega saying something else to enforce the fact that they were 'just friends.' Meega thought it was very amusing, but watched the tree with half an eye anyway, just in case. You never knew if you were getting too close, otherwise.

"Okay, people, who's going to hit the knot?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "I've been elected, as I'm the smallest and fastest, even though I'm taller than most of you."

"You might be the second tallest, but you're still the smallest," Hermione pointed out. "Not to mention faster than the rest of us. Besides, the rest of us don't really need to get in—just you."

Harry shook his head, then ducked under the branches of the tree. He hit the knot, then ducked into the passageway at the base of the trunk. The other Gryffindors followed, but Draco was staring apprehensively at the tree and the hole at its base.

"Come on Draco, I promise it's not dangerous—at the moment. We don't have long, though, and everything will be explained as soon as you're inside. It's a passageway the Shrieking Shack."

Draco glanced at Meega, swallowed, and ducked into the passageway. Meega followed and just avoided being hit as the tree came back to life.

"What took you two so long? Take time out for a snog?" Mione asked evilly.

"Nah, not enough time for that," Meega said lightly. "Draco was just smart enough to be afraid of the tree and not trust the lot of you. Okay, who's telling him why we're off to the Shack?"

"To shag," Ron said, then tried (and failed miserably) to escape all three girls smacking him for his comment.

After Hermione straitened herself out from beating Ron to a bloody pulp with Mione and Meega, she took charge of the explanation. "You know that Sirius Black escaped—and presumably that's he's Harry's Godfather."

"Not the last part. I just knew he was a friend of the family that was _supposedly_ a Death Eater. I have no idea who was the real spy, though."

"Wormtail, or Peter Pettigrew. Anyway, Sirius is innocent and Harry's Godfather, and we're going to see him. He's going to kip in the Shack for a few days between missions."

Draco was stunned. "We're going to see a murderer?"

Meega grinned and ruffled his hair, which made him blink in surprise. "He's innocent of _that_. If you want something he's really guilty of, try replacing _murderer_ with _Marauder_. That one couldn't be more true."

"A Marauder?"

"James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. The other three were good enough to give him Peter second billing—Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs."

"Ah. So we're going to see a _Marauder_ who everyone thinks is a murderer."

"Pretty much, yeah, that's it."

"Okaaaay . . ."

Meega grinned. "Don't tell me that you're afraid of the Big Bad Wolf."

Draco looked puzzled. "What? I thought—"

"I wasn't referring to Werewolves. Anyone in their right mind is afraid of them when they're changed. The big bad wolf is the villain in a couple of Muggle fairy tales. Most, if not all, fairy tales ended up adapted to be children's bedtime stories, and so the Big Bad Wolf isn't scary at all. When I say someone's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf I mean they're pretty much afraid of their own shadow. Sirius isn't dangerous—well, no more than any other fairly powerful Gryffindor alumni with a temper. Come on. I swear, you're jumpier than I usually am today."

Part 35 – The Meeting 

Sirius was sprawled on a couch in a large sitting room when the group of fifth years arrived. His eyes were nearly closed, giving the illusion that he could easily be caught unawares. However, the deception was incomplete, broken by the wand he had gripped in one hand.

"Sirius," Harry said softly. "We're here."

Sirius Black opened his eyes, stretched, and stood to pull Harry into a tight hug. Then he surveyed the crowed, unperturbed, merely raising an eyebrow at Meega's Slytherin scarf. When he saw Draco, however, his grip on his wand tightened and his eyes narrowed slightly.

"Harry, you might want to re-think your choice in people you bring with you. My cousin is not to be trusted."

"Meega insisted on—wait, he's your _cousin_?"

"Technically, his mother's my cousin. Says something about the family, doesn't it?"

Meega gave the escaped convict a shocked look. "You mean you're related to the _Malfoys_? I would have guessed the Potters first! Well, distantly, anyway."

Sirius gave a short laugh. "I would prefer it if I was! I'm also related to the Lestranges."

"Bellatrix Lestrange is my mother's sister," Draco drawled.

Meega blinked. "Your aunt and uncle are Death Eaters, too? Bloody heck, how did you end up as well as you have?"

"Same way he did, I suppose." The blond Slytherin waved vaguely at the escaped convict who was glaring at him. "From what I hear his younger brother was a Death Eater—and their mother's favorite. Then there's Aunt Andromeda and her daughter, Nymphadora. Nymph goes by their surname. They've been disowned because Auntie's husband, Ted Tonks, is Muggleborn."

"Andromeda was always my favorite cousin," Sirius remarked, obviously still suspicious of the motive behind his first-­cousin-once-removed being present. "Strange that you'd call her Auntie—I'd think Narcissa would agree with my mother about her having no proper wizarding pride."

"Mum took me to see her sometimes. She hates Mr. Tonks, but she and Auntie still get along fairly well. I'd play with Nymph even though she's a good four years older than me, and I grew rather fond of Auntie and Mr. Tonks." He seemed to catch the other's looks because he added, "Mum wasn't happy about me even meeting him. I was told I was to refer to him as Mr. Tonks if I ever had to refer to him, and it wasn't encouraged."

"I see," Sirius said. He was obviously still suspicious—and probably always would be—but he was willing to talk. "Since you're obviously not going to go away, I might as well get on with it."

**Part 36 – Reason #2 Not to Flirt with a Death Eater's Son**

"That was the weirdest experience I have ever had in my life."

"Well, what did you expect?"

"Not that."

Meega laughed. "Drace, Sirius and Harry are half father and son, half brothers. Sirius is the closest thing to a real family that Harry has."

"Drace?"

"Well . . . it's kinda cute."

"_Cute?_"

"Yep. Cute."

"Drace," the boy repeated, pausing to give Meega a sideways glance. "I never thought the day would come that I had _any_ sort of nickname, much less a 'cute' one."

"Well, it has. The very day you met someone who had been in Azkaban for twelve years."

"He's a lot more . . . sane . . . than I thought he would be."

"His innocence kept him sane, he thinks. He could keep that, because it was an obsession instead of a happy thought."

"Interesting."

"Did you find any particular topic of discussion especially interesting?"

"That book sounded like something I'd like to get my hands on."

"I thought so, too."

"Too bad he promised Potter's parents that he wouldn't give it to him."

"That doesn't mean that someone else can't get it from him," Meega said, her eyes dancing as she looked up at the blond boy beside her on the couch.

Draco groaned. "_Don't_ tell me that you're going to try to get it."

"All right. I won't tell you."

"Mia, what in Merlin's name makes you think he'll give it to a Slytherin?"

"Oh, I can get it, Drace. I can get it." Meega stood up, realizing that Draco had her hand loosely in his. "I've got to go to the library, Draco."

Draco held her gaze for a moment longer, then slowly released her hand and drew his back to his side. "I'll see you later, then, Meega."


	10. Why Does She Have To Be Right?

_**Chapter 10 – Why Does She Have to be Right?**_

**Part 37 – Quidditch**

"Drace, the Quidditch team list is up!"

"Good for you, Mia."

"Hey, it says I made it! Fwee!"

"Fwee?"

"Fwee," Meega said firmly.

"Keeper?"

"Nope. Seeker. Of _course_ it's Keeper! Well . . . Reserve Keeper. I think they have something against having girls actually on the team."

"Of course. What did you expect?"

Meega glared at Draco. "I don't know . . . maybe this little thing called equality?"

"Meega, it's a little more old-fashioned in here. Our females are expected to be . . . well . . . demure. You playing Quidditch will be looked down on by some, but most of us tolerate it, as long as the girls aren't on the actual team."

"Oh. That's interesting. I thought the Gryffindors were the 'chivalrous' ones."

"That depends what you mean by 'chivalry.' They're the protectors of the weak, but we take traditional views on roles. Men are providers and protectors, women nurture and are . . . er . . . decorative. We don't usually admit how intelligent they are, at least publicly, but we know women aren't _stupid_. That would be a little dangerous."

"Un-huh."

"Slytherin is also the house where arranged marriages are most common, though they don't always go through. Our parents would rather have us marry someone they don't approve of as much as our betrothed than go through the scandal of a divorce."

Meega shook her head, looking disbelieving. "Drace, I think this entire house might have issues."

"We do, Mia. Of one sort or another, we do."

Part 38 – Er . . . Wrong Date 

"But Draco, she's a Mudblood!"

Draco gave Pansy a withering look. "If you weren't a girl I'd curse you for that."

Pansy's eyes narrowed. "Your father will never approve," she hissed, her glare shooting daggers at the handsome blonde boy. "Besides, _we_ are betrothed."

"Not any more—or didn't your parents tell you? Father ended the deal when _you_ dumped me for Crabbe. We haven't been betrothed for over a month."

Pansy sniffed angrily. "I explained the matter to my parents and they said that your father would understand why I would be upset about you mooning over _her_."

"If I remember correctly, _you_ were eyeing the other guys first, and _you_ were the one who suggested we go to the ball with new people, and _you_ were the one who dumped _me_—very publicly at that. My father knows very well that I would never take you back after that. We are through, Pansy, by your own choice. Permanently."

Draco turned regally to walk away and Pansy, who looked about ready to spit fire, pulled her wand out, pointing it at him.

"_Drace, look out!_"

Draco ducked just in time to dodge Pansy's spell, whirling back around to catch her wrist. He glared at Pansy, who looked suddenly scared. "Don't try that again, or I might forget you're supposed to be a lady." He threw down her wrist, snapping it in a way that threw her wand across the floor. "Get out of my sight . . . and stay gone."

Draco turned his back on her again, walking over to Meega. "Thank you," he said softly.

"What are friends for, if not to watch each other's backs?"

The two Slytherins held each other's gaze s for a moment before bursting into laughter. When they finally stopped laughing Draco looked thoughtful.

"You were right, you know. Except for one thing."

"What?"

"Today's the seventeenth."

Part 39 – The 3rd and Final Reason Not to Flirt with a Death Eater's Son 

Four days after the episode with Pansy, Draco and Meega were sitting in the deserted common room. Their flufglow were playing with Bageria and Sirius, and Nevermore was off delivering a letter for Meega. The two humans, half-sprawled on one of the couches in front of the fire, were talking while they watched their pets play.

"It'll be the Falcons, Meega. Who else could it be?"

"Puddlemore United? The Harpies?"

Draco gave a derisive snort. "The Falcons will win, Meega. Just remember that I've been following Quidditch a _lot_ longer than you have."

"I can tell you who will be last!"

"And who's that?"

"Chudley Cannons. If it was anyone else they'd immediately become the laughingstock."

Draco laughed. "Exactly. Now all we have to do is convince Weasley that they're never going to win."

"I don't know . . . they might if Harry got amnesia, forgot that they're the worst team in history, and started playing for them. However, if we told Ron that he might try it."

Both Slytherins started laughing, Meega collapsing onto Draco's shoulder. Draco's laughter slowly died, and he gently turned Meega's chin with his thumb, looking down into her topaz eyes. Her laughter ceased as she looked back into his suddenly serious storm-gray eyes, uncertainty in her own.

"I'm sorry," Draco whispered, and then he lowered his mouth over hers.

This time Meega wasn't caught as much by surprise, but she was surprised that she felt no urge to push Draco away. His kiss felt surprisingly good, his lips moving gently over hers. Eventually Draco pulled away, looking away from Meega.

"Slap me if you wish. Make me promise never to do that again. I had to this once. I had to know . . . what it was like . . . to really kiss you." When he finished speaking he looked up, clearly expecting to see Meega glaring at him. He was not prepared for Meega looking slightly breathless, clearly amazed, and a little wondering.

"I'd never do that, Draco," Meega said softly. "I only slapped you last time because you startled me, and I wasn't ready to think of you like that. I think . . . I think I could now."

Draco looked confused. Whatever had just happened, he had not been expecting it and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "You mean you don't mind? I was afraid that you'd never speak to me again."

"You must have really wanted to kiss me to risk being all alone again. And as for the kiss . . . I liked it. I wouldn't really mind doing it again."

There was nothing for Draco to do about that statement except grin and lower his mouth over Meega's again, this time a little more boldly.

Part 40 – Securing the Book 

At breakfast, conversation was always interrupted by the mail being delivered. The students were used to the owls flying in like silent wraiths to deliver their messages. What they were not used to, however, was the loud caw that announced the entry of a huge dark shadow seeking its mistress.

Nevermore cawed again, settling on the back of Meega's chair just behind her left shoulder, dropping his package beside her plate.

"Thank you, lovely," Meega murmured, handing the raven some bacon, which he happily gobbled. "Greedy." The raven cawed again, and this time it sounded like a laugh. "Go on, get."

As Nevermore flew off, Meega turned her attention to the parcel he had delivered. Opening it, she grinned as she saw what it contained.

"What are you grinning at?"

"This," Meega said simply, handing Draco the parcel, wrapping and all.

"You did it," Draco gaped. In his hands was a red leather bound book bearing the golden title _Hogwarts' Unwritten History: The Marauder Years_. "I can't believe you actually did it!"

"All it took was a little blackmail," Meega said innocently.

Draco gave her a startled look, then burst out laughing. "I wondered where my black paper was getting off to."

"Actually, I just used regular parchment for my letters to Sirius, and I didn't actually have to blackmail him. Your black paper is becoming a flock of black paper cranes. I'm determined to make a thousand."

"Dare I ask _why_ you want to make a thousand black paper cranes?"

"Because there's a legend in the Orient that says that if you make a thousand paper cranes and make a wish when you finish the last one they will carry the wish away on their wings and it will come true. I wanted to see if that would work. If it doesn't, then I'll have one thousand pretty black paper cranes to hang all over my dorm room."

Draco laughed again. "What are you planning on wishing for?"

Meega suddenly looked all together too serious to be taken seriously and simply said, "Wings."


	11. The Strage Plot

_**Chapter 11 – The Strange Plot of the Four Gryffindors and Two Slytherins**_

**Part 41 – The Joys of THE BOOK**

"I can't believe none of them have figured it out yet."

For the last several days, the whole of the Ravenclaw house had been followed around by little twittering hearts with fluttering wings. The most patient of them were beginning to be very annoyed by the hearts, but even after the most complex cures had been attempted the hearts remained.

"_I_ just find it hard to believe that no one has pinned you as the culprit."

Meega grinned at her boyfriend. "This, Drace, is a Marauder classic, though they generally wouldn't have done it on the whole house. I'm in Slytherin. Why would I have _any_ idea how to do this?"

"I don't know . . . maybe that little red book that lives in your bag?"

"What book would that be?" Meega asked innocently.

"_Scales and Shards_," Draco said seriously.

Laughing, Meega shook her head. "I'm never going to get to use that, am I?"

"You never know what will come in handy when you associate with Potter."

Just then a spacy blond Ravenclaw fourth year walked by—void of hearts. Cho Chang had also noticed this, and hurried over with a gaggle of her friends. "How in Merlin's name did you get rid of the pesky little things, Lovegood?"

The younger Ravenclaw looked vaguely confused. "You just have to be polite to them." Then she floated off, and Meega looked at Draco in confusion.

"Who is she and how did she figure it out?"

"Luna Lovegood, commonly called Loony Lovegood. Her father runs a piece of filth magazine called the Quibbler. She just does things like that—and then wears radish earrings. I think she got hers to go away the first day, and the rest of the House still has theirs because she's never less cryptic than she was with what she just told Chang. About anything."

Part 42 – Sharing with Gryffindors   
"You're sure you want to show them, Mia?" 

"I promised your dear cousin, Drace. I've had the thing since the end of November. It's mid-January. I think it's time. Just maybe, you know."

With that, Meega led her boyfriend by his hand the last few yards to the room they'd chosen as a hide-out—more because Draco was _still_ highly uncomfortable in the Gryffindor common room than anything—smoothing her knee-length black skirt as she did so. Her shoes were hung from the top loop on her back pack—which Draco was carrying—and she headed to the comfortable sitting room in her black and green striped socks. The room itself was behind an out-of-the way portrait of four friends, two boys and two girls, sitting in a replica of the room hidden behind their portrait.

"It's good to see you two again," one boy told them. He had long black hair pulled back into a neat pony tail that was tied with a black silk bow, gray-green eyes, and fair skin. Dressed in all black robes—a good deal of the cloth silk, and the rest similarly expensive—he moved in a way that reminded her of Draco.

"Hello," Meega said cheerfully. "You know, you still haven't told us your name."

"I doubt you would believe me if I told you. Much has changed since this was painted, and not all of it for the better." He smiled charmingly. "I assure you, Lady Meega, I will tell you my name if it becomes pertinent."

The Slytherin girl pouted. "It's kind of weird, with how often we come here, and I _still_ have no idea what to call you."

The young man smiled. "Call me Therin, milady. It is not my true name, but it is a part of it."

"Come now, _Therin_, you're making the young lady's swain jealous," the other boy interrupted. He was every bit as good-looking as the first boy, though in a very different way. His hair reminded her of Harry's, except it was deep golden blond, and his eyes were the clear blue of a summer sky. His clothing showed much more color and less wealth than Therin's, but they way he carried himself made it obvious that he was every bit as affluent as the other boy. "Are you going to let them in or not?"

Therin laughed, then bowed to Draco. "My apologies, young master Malfoy. I have been sharing this portrait with no one other than Ric, Wena, and El for a very long time, and your lady is a rare beauty." The portrait swung open while Draco's mouth hung open as he tried to think up and appropriate reply and Meega attempted to prevent herself from blushing.

"You two are late. What _have_ you been up to?"

"Therin was flirting with me."

"Therin?"

"The guy with the black hair in the portrait outside."

"If he wasn't a portrait I'd do something about him," Draco growled. "As it is, I would anyway, but I can't think of any way to duel a portrait."

"You could sic that crazy knight on him," Meega suggested innocently.

"I thought about that, but I think those four are stuck in their portrait, and everyone else out. He said he'd been stuck there with the other three for a long time."

Meega grinned. "Good. I like Therin. He's very nice."

Draco glowered. "He reminds me of my father."

Meega giggled, then kissed her boyfriend on the tip of his nose. "You're sweet, you know. I am in absolutely no danger from a portrait. Besides, flattery is very nice, and _you_ are a biased source."

Mione groaned. "Will you two cut it out? You're almost sickening."

Meega raised an eyebrow sardonically. "Only _almost_ sickening?" She turned to Draco. "Drace, I do believe we've been slacking."

Draco gave his girlfriend a level look, his eyes completely serious. "I refuse to make a spectacle out of you."

"I take that back. You _are_ sickening. I'm drowning in sweetness. Hurry up and get to the point so that I can escape!"

Meega took a seat on one of the couches, Draco handing her bag to her before sitting down himself. She rummaged around for a moment, then pulled out a red book with gold letters.

"Is that the book on raising and breeding dragons that you got this summer?" Hermione asked.

"_Scales and Shards_? No. This is _Hogwarts' Unwritten History: The Marauder Years_."

Exclamations of surprise came from all four of the Gryffindors. "How did you get it?" Harry asked.

"I helped Sirius look over the sheet of promises about Marauder stuff he signed. The Marauder's Map was mentioned specifically as something he wasn't allowed to give to you, but you got that from Fred and George. The invisibility cloak was passed on by Dumbledore when you were eleven, and Sirius was technically supposed to give it to you when you _left_ Hogwarts, but that's done with, too. But this . . . " she tapped the book lightly with her first finger. "Under no conditions is he allowed to let this come into your possession by gift or lending. He's not even allowed to put it in a position where you're likely to find it on your own and 'borrow' it. In fact, he's to make sure that you _never _get your hands on this book. But the list said _nothing_ about you laying eyes on it—a definite oversight on the part of your mother. So, as long as it technically belongs to me—seeing as I'll keep you from breaking Sirius's promise for him, but still allow you access to the information—and you never actually _touch_ the thing, then you can use the information. Aren't you glad I'm persistent?"

Draco laughed. "Mia, I think 'blackmail' was an inaccurate description."

"I did tell you that I didn't actually blackmail him, Drace. The black paper is becoming a flock of paper cranes. I have almost seven hundred."

"Why on _earth_ are you making so many?"

"At one thousand, I get a wish. I think. This is a trial run, really."

"Huh."

"Anyway, I think we should become Animagi! They've detailed the process, and if we start today we should be done by mid-April!"

"Mid-April—but that's only three months!"

"That's the point. They worked it out, so the hard part is done! They say three months is the _longest_ it should take some one with these instructions—they said it was longer than it would have taken Wormtail with them, whoever _he_ was. They said two was probably more accurate." She knew perfectly well who Peter Pettigrew was, and it got her point across. Eager to become Animagi, the group of students began.

**Part 43 – The First Transformation**

As the Easter holiday approached, the fifth years' already heavy homework load increased fivefold. They had essays in every class—long, detailed essays. Strangely, under this load of work four Gryffindors and two Slytherins keep meeting regularly behind the canvas bearing Therin, Ric, Wena, and El. By the last week of March, most of what they did was meditation, sitting silently and _listening_.

Then, two days before the end of March, a series of popping noises interrupted the silence, followed by a large _pop_ and a surprised squeak. Five pairs of eyes flashed open, and after a moment, they settled on the shocked white ferret on the couch next to Meega.

Silence reigned again for an instant, and then the room erupted in giggles. Meega was the first to regain control of herself, and scooped up the little rodent. "Poor little Drace, your Animagus form is a ferret! But you're so very cute as a ferret."

Draco-the-ferret gave his girlfriend a very obviously long-suffering look, slithering out of her hands and back down to the couch. The little beast closed his eyes in concentration, and after a few minutes Draco was himself again and glaring at the still-giggling Gryffindors. "Remember while you're laughing that I was the first to transform."

Hermione smothered her giggles, straightening her hair self-consciously. "Yes. Yes, you were. I was expecting it to be Harry, since he's the most powerful of us. But there are other factors—such as your human body's acceptance of the change and your willingness to surrender to it. Moody transformed you randomly, and so you reverted to your inner creature, making your body more accepting of the change. And . . . I suppose you were the most willing of us to surrender to change, after the episode with Pansy shortly before the Halloween ball and the events following. Add that to _your_ magical strength—which is _not_ something to disregard—and it makes sense for you to transform first."

Ron snorted. "Whatever, Hermione. _He_ transformed first, so one of _us_ needs to be sure and transform next."

"Besides the fact that this is not about Gryffindor and Slytherin, Ron, there _is_ a four in five chance that the next one to transform will be Gryffindor. There are, after all, four of you."

There was silence for a few minutes as they all settled in to meditate more. Then—

"Do you think anyone else will transform today?"

"Not if you don't shut up, Ron."

They were silent for a bit longer.

"How much longer can it take?"

"Ron! Shut up!"

**Part 44 – Uncle Alfred**

"Mia, did you have anywhere you were going for Easter?"

"Hmm?" Meega looked up from her Potions essay to grin at her boyfriend, who was sitting across from her reading a letter. "Well, seeing as it's sort of impossible for me to go home to see my parents and the Golden Gryffies are staying here, no, not really."

"How'd you like to come home with me?"

"Won't your father be a little upset about me, seeing as I'm Muggleborn and all?"

"Well . . . he sort of doesn't know that. Or even that I'm going out with you."

"Really."

"I spread some rumors that you were a cover and that I was really going out with Hermione. Father will be so relieved that you're in Slytherin that he won't mind that you're American. He has no idea that you consider yourself Muggleborn—though, frankly, that's disputable. You're really the first of your line, with how you came here, so you're more a Pureblood—and very much a Pureblood—than you are a Muggleborn."

"I see. So, you think your father won't object too much?"

"He'll be relieved enough that I wouldn't be particularly surprised if he decided to try to arrange our marriage."

Meega laughed. "If _that's_ the case, I'll go. However, there is no way I'm going to be set up for an arranged marriage. Besides, he'll have a hard time contacting my parents. I suppose we could always tell him that they're dead, and that I've inherited everything."

"There's generally a steward until the child reaches majority."

"Hmm . . . an old, blind great uncle who doesn't answer his post. Since I'm in school most of the year, he doesn't have to have a child underfoot. It was Uncle Alfred's idea for me to transfer to Hogwarts, you know."


	12. The Easter Holiday Begins

_**Chapter 12 – The Easter Holiday Begins**_

**Part 45 – Red**

"So, here we are. The last meditation session before Draco and Meega go off to Malfoy Manor for Easter."

"I can't believe you agreed to go with him, Mia! You'll be stuck there with Lucius Malfoy, for goodness sake!"

"I feel as though I should be offended by that."

"You mean you're not?"

"Considering the source? No." Draco smirked, and Mione scowled. "You talk too much and rarely think. If I let anything you said offend me, I'd spend half my life offended."

Meega snorted, and Mione glared at her friend. "You too?"

"Of course not, Mione."

"I think it's time to start," Hermione said, hiding a grin.

There was a good deal of shuffling while people got situated, and then they began meditating, with the exception of Draco. _He_ was practicing, getting faster at transforming.

Suddenly, the rhythmic popping of Draco's transformations were interrupted by a series of pops and a loud bark. The others gathered opened their eyes, and Draco changed back to his human form. "Who would have thought _he_ would transform next?" Draco asked. Ron had transformed—into a particularly red Irish Setter.

**Part 46 – Reason #1 Not to Date a Death Eater's Son**

The Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform Nine and Three Quarters about four o'clock the first day of Easter Vacation, having left the Hogsmeade station at eight that morning. Meega and Draco had wound up sharing a compartment with Loony Lovegood, who actually turned out to be very nice and very interesting, though she did believe every word her father printed in the Quibbler. It was almost a shame when the train pulled into the station and it was time to get off.

"So, Mia, are you ready to face my family?"

Meega grinned. "You don't have any siblings. How hard can it be?"

Draco smiled back, loading Meega's belongings onto a trolley and refusing to let her help. "That really depends on my parents, doesn't it? They can make visits _very_ uncomfortable without trying very hard _or_ resorting to anything illegal."

"I understand that perfectly. It's not hard to think of ways for them to do that. I mean, they could have the house elves could 'forget' to get my room ready properly, for starters."

"Among other things. However, father will be _very_ relieved that you're Slytherin, so I doubt you have anything to fear."

"Well, then, let's go."

At this point Draco was forced to give Meega control of her own trolley, though he was obviously affronted that she had to push it herself. They exited through the barrier, and it took little time for them to find Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Besides the fact that they were waiting near the platform, they stood out. No one else could stand there and look so much like they owned the place. Lucius' eyes were cold, his nose was in the air, and his face was an impassive mask; Narcissa looked as though she had scented manure.

"Mother, Father," Draco said stiffly as he stopped in front of them, bowing slightly to acknowledge them. "I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Meega Ororo Kyl-Derc. Mia, these are my parents, Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy."

"Hello Mrs. Malfoy, Mr. Malfoy," Meega replied softly, dipping into a slight—very slight—curtsy. "Your son hasn't said much about you. I'm looking forward to getting to know you."

"Indeed," Lucius said disdainfully. "Miss Kyl-Derc, is it? I was under the impression that he was seeing someone else."

"Oh, you know how rumors out of Hogwarts are, Father," Draco said in a tone not too far removed from the one his father had used, though it was obvious that any contempt in his voice was for those who spread the rumors and not his father. "As often as not they're a figment of someone's imagination, or started out of spite."

"Indeed," he repeated and swept away, expecting the others to follow. Draco glanced at Meega, giving her a half-smile before starting off after his parents. Meega felt that this would be a very awkward visit.

**Part 47 – Of Shoes and Socks**

"Your father irks me. He's so terribly . . . arrogant."

Draco smirked. "You mean like me?"

Meega paused, taken off guard. "Yes. But you're cute when you do it!" She swung her feet out from under her, ready to set off to her first dinner at Malfoy Manor.

"Just a minute. Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Oh, right!" She leaned over to kiss Draco, then started off again.

"Not that—though I don't object," Draco said, grinning. "Your shoes."

Meega looked down at her bare feet. "But shoes are evil."

"And if you wander around the manor barefoot you'll give my mother vapors."

"Ooo, I've never seen that!"

Draco gave a long-suffering sigh. "Please, just put on your shoes."

Meega pouted. "I don't like shoes."

Draco faltered. "All right, I suppose you don't _have_ to wear shoes. But put on your stockings at least!"

"All right. I suppose I _am_ the guest here. I should _try_ to be at least moderately polite." She sat back down, pulling on her knee-high striped hot pink and black socks. Halfway through putting on the second sock, she looked up in confusion. Draco had his back turned and the back of his neck was bright red. "What's wrong?"

"You're—dressing," he said tensely.

"I'm putting on socks!"

"It's—it's not—"

Meega grinned. "You're so cute." Finishing pulling on her sock, she slipped over to kiss her boyfriend again. "Of course, if you were any different I probably wouldn't be going out with you."

Draco grinned. "It's time for dinner, Mia. Will you allow me to escort you?" He held out his arm, and Meega slipped her hand around the crook of his elbow.

"Hmm. I could get used to this very quickly."

"There's more than this to get used to. Mother intends to have a chat with you tonight and start turning you into a proper lady tomorrow."

"Really."

"A Malfoy can't be seen in public with someone who has no idea how to behave. So she's planning on teaching you to behave like someone a Malfoy would keep company with."

"Does that include wearing shoes?"

"Among other things."

Meega sighed. "I'm not going to have any choice in this, am I?"

"Not really, knowing Mother."

"I know perfectly well how to behave. I just don't."

The dining room that Draco escorted Meega into was enormous. Like the rest of the house, it seemed more appropriate medieval castle than a modern home. Lucius and Narcissa were already seated at the high table when Draco seated Meega and took his own seat. At the sight of Meega's shoeless state, Narcissa's eyes had bulged, but she regained control of herself quickly. Meega had a sneaking suspicion that wandering around in her socks would be a subject of discussion in her lessons. This was the most formal dinner Meega had ever attended, and she had a feeling that this was much less formal than dinner generally was at Malfoy Manor.

**Part 48 – Vapors**

"One Cannot Wander around the Manor in Stockings," Narcissa informed Meega as soon as she had her in her solar. "It is simply Not Done."

Meega glanced down at her shoes—which she had put on after dinner—and nodded. _I'm a guest_, she thought. _I'm a guest._ "I understand, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Good. Now, if one Associates with Malfoys, one must Maintain a Certain Level of Behavior. One Cannot act as though one is an Uneducated Commoner."

"Of course, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Since my Son has Chosen to Associate with you, you must Learn to Behave as a Lady. I will do my Best to Instruct you as you Should Have Been as a Child. Your Posture is Immaculate; however, your Manners are Abysmal. You must be Enlightened in the Proper forms of Etiquette. Sit."

Meega sat.

"Feet must be on the Floor."


	13. The Adventures of Sneaky the Ferret

_**Chapter 13 – The Adventures of Sneaky the Ferret**_

**Part 49 – Ergk!**

"Goblin Rebellions again? Don't they have anything better to do than rebel?"

Draco smirked, looking up from his own History of Magic essay and putting his quill back in the inkwell on the low library table in front of them. "Apparently not. You'd think that tending Gringotts would keep them busy, but not generally. They seem to rebel once a century at the least."

"Why do we even bother to study them all separately? The same things happen every time. You just change some names and dates and there you go!"

"It is important to study them each separately so that they can be prevented in the future."

"It hasn't worked so far."

"Yes, well, that's what Mother told me anyway."

"Huh. She wasn't by any chance having vapors at you at that point, was she?"

"Actually, she was."

"Thought so. There are definitely better ways to get people to do what you want than having vapors at them. It takes a lot less effort to straight-out manipulate them, for example."

"And if they won't be manipulated?"

"Anybody can be manipulated."

"Really."

"That's my line."

"Really." Draco smirked. "So you say you can manipulate _anyone_?"

"Most people."

"Prove it."

"Well, there was the episode over my shoes . . . ."

Draco twitched. "I'm not always that easy to manipulate."

"No, just by me."

"That's because I don't mind you manipulating me."

"Hmm."

Draco slipped one arm around Meega's waist and cupped her chin with his other hand, lowering his lips onto hers as he drew her a little closer. She grinned as he kissed her, responding to his lips. Eventually he deepened the kiss, no longer as hesitant as he had been the first time he had done so. Meega's arms snaked around his neck as the hand on her chin joined the other holding her close to him. Neither hands nor mouths wandered as they clung to each other on the couch; the kiss was slow, lingering, showing no desire for anything other than the moment and the closeness of the moment. Both Draco and Meega were content just to sit motionlessly in each others arms, locked in a kiss as gentle as everything else in their relationship.

"Ergk!"

The couple on the couch practically leapt apart, eyes jumping to the man in the library doorway. Lucius Malfoy stood with one hand on the doorway acting as a brace and the other on his heart, his eyes bulging. It seemed that whatever he had expected to find in his library, it _wasn't_ his son kissing his girlfriend.

A moment later he seemed to have mostly recovered. "Draco Taurin Malfoy," he growled, "get out. I need to have a little chat with Miss Kyl-Derc." Draco blinked, startled, then gave Meega an apologetic smile and quickly left. "You, girl. To my study." Meega stood, feeling slightly perplexed, and followed Lucius out of the library. Then, in the hall, she saw a white streak and grinned.

"Sneaky!" Lucius glared at her as she darted over to scoop up the white ferret. "I'm sorry, sir, but my ferret seems to have escaped my room," she said innocently, holding up the white ferret as proof. Lucius sniffed, but led on to his study.

**Part 50 – Family Honor**

"So."

Meega was sitting in front of Lucius' rather imposing desk, 'Sneaky' sitting on her shoulder as she tried not to laugh at the comical image her mind presented her with as Lucius stared at her, his posture deadly-serious.

"So," he repeated.

Meega blinked innocently.

"It has come to my attention rather . . . suddenly that my son may actually be serious about you." The sneer that Meega had expected didn't appear. "It is more urgent than I thought that you learn to behave properly."

"What—"

Lucius glanced sharply at Meega when she interrupted. "The Malfoy name has a certain . . . prestige. As it seems you will be associated with that name for some time to come, you must do your part to uphold the name, family, and honor of Malfoy. You are not to associate with those of lesser rank and station more than is strictly necessary. You will learn to act, speak, and dress as is appropriate for one born into this standing. Where are you staying over the summer?"

Meega jumped slightly, surprised at having a question directed at her. "Well, that's a matter currently under discussion. Uncle Alfred doesn't really want to ship me back to the States for the summer, but he hasn't set up anywhere else for me to stay at the moment."

"You will stay here. Narcissa will find you the necessary tutors. And in the future . . . keep your displays out of the public view."

After a moment, Meega recognized this as a dismissal. Standing, she nodded in acknowledgment and turned and left Lucius' study, heading back to the library.

**Part 51 – Keep No Secrets, Tell No Lies**

"Well. That was interesting."

As Meega sat down on the couch she and Draco had vacated earlier, her boyfriend slunk from her shoulder to the back of the sofa. From there he slipped down onto the seat and returned to his human shape. "Sneaky?"

Meega shrugged, grinning. "It was the only thing I could think of besides 'Fluffy' and 'Bianca.' I thought it was probably the best choice."

"I suppose," Draco sighed.

"Tell me something: how serious is your father?"

"Completely."

"And how serious are you?"

Draco simply _looked_ at her for a moment, then swooped in to catch her hands in his. "Meega Ororo Kyl-Derc, I love you, I trust you, and I need you. At this moment I would like nothing better than to marry you when we finish school."

Meega gaped, completely floored. That had been the _last_ thing she had expected to happen. "Draco," she said weakly when she found her voice, "Draco, did you just . . . propose?"

"No. That can wait for a year or two. I just thought that the whole truth would be the best answer."

"Hmm," Meega's sudden smile was small and contented. "Keep no secrets, tell no lies?"

"Exactly."

"Well, then I suppose I have something to say."

"Really?" Draco asked hopefully.

"I love you too, Draco Taurin Malfoy. Fifteen seems very young to be thinking about marriage, but I think I'll say yes, when you ask me. If you ask me."

"I'll ask, Meega," Draco insisted, obviously pained that she would even think that he might not.

There was something all to knowing in Meega's eyes as she smiled sadly at Draco, everything about her oddly peaceful. "Don't promise that, Draco. You don't know what will happen between now and then. People think they're in love all the time. Then, if they're lucky, they really love someone and everything else is revealed as the dime novel romances they really are. Right now I love you, and you love me. But . . . we're fifteen. Maybe 'love' doesn't mean what we think it does."

**Part 52 – Easter**

The first week of the Easter holiday passed quickly, and Easter itself arrived. There was to be a party that night: dinner, then a dance for the adults and a party for the children that were technically Draco's guests.

Narcissa had personally overseen the selection of Meega's clothing for the party. The dress robe selected for her leaned more towards 'dress' than 'robe.' It could have been a twin of her dress for the Halloween ball if you took away the black, closed the slits, and added a corset. The dress was a deep hunter green, the corset creme with gold lacing. Here creme slippers were embroidered with green and gold ivy. The choker and circlet Narcissa had provided with the dress robe were gold worked into tiny leafy vines of ivy. Personally, Meega thought that the outfit was a bit over the top, but when Draco escorted her into the dining hall she was glad she hadn't objected.

"You do this every year?"

"Since I started Hogwarts. Before that, I got to have fun on Easter."

"I'm sure we can find a way to make the children's party fun."

Draco smirked. "No sneaking off. We have to stay until everyone has gone home."

"So we'll just have to make our own fun at the party."


	14. How the Malfoys Do Easter

_**Chapter 14 – How the Malfoys do Easter**_

**Part 53 – The Party**

"You really should get in on the planning, Draco," a pretty blond with a snubbed nose drawled, obviously trying to attract Draco's interest. "What your mother plans is always so dull."

Draco's polite smile was amazingly detached. "Oleander, I'm at school until a week before the party. Besides, Mother would have vapors if I even tried to help with the planning."

Meega was beginning to feel very uncomfortable. Dinner had been fine, but here at the party everyone knew each other and it was obvious. Most if not all of the other children were the sons and daughters of Death Eaters. Their parents were currently in the ballroom with the Malfoys, and _they_ were stuck at the 'party' Narcissa had arranged for them. Draco was doing his duty as the host of the festivities, but it was obvious that none of them would have been there if they'd had any choice in the matter.

"You know, we could do something other than sit around and drink butterbeer," Meega suggested.

"Ooo, we could play Spin the Bottle!" a pretty black-haired girl squealed, eyeing Draco.

"I have a girlfriend, Laurea."

"So? It's just a game. And it's just a little kiss."

"You can play. I'm not going to," Draco said firmly.

"How about Spell or Scare?" a mousy girl suggested.

"That sounds like fun, Tinea."

"How do you play?" Meega asked, truly curious.

"It's very simple—"

"Oh, don't worry, Draco," Oleander giggled, her tone sickly-sweet. "We'll take care of Meega." She grabbed Meega's arm, leading her away firmly. A group of girls closed in around them, including Laurea, though Tinea stayed over in the larger group by Draco. None of them seemed to be particularly fond of Meega.

"Leave Draco to us," one of them hissed.

"Stay away from him."

"We had no choice about putting up with Pansy, but there is no way we're going to sit back and watch a Yankee move in on him!"

"Not when we've been waiting for a chance like this for years."

"With Draco's betrothal canceled, we have a chance to marry into the House of Malfoy. We're not giving up that chance at status for you or anyone else!"

"So give up on him, and get out of our way."

"Oh, and in Spell or Scare you're challenged with a complex spell. If you can't do it, you have to do something that scares you."

Meega decided as she walked back to Draco that she would be very happy if she never saw any of those girls again.

"What were they after, Meega?" Draco asked quietly as they sat down for Spell or Scare.

"You. They told me to clear the way."

"You leaving me would do them no good. Even if I'd never met you, I would have nothing to do with _them_. Besides, I'd be too busy trying to get you back."

**Part 54 – Spell or Scare**

Playing the Wizarding version of Truth or Dare was a very educational experience for Meega. As in Spin the Bottle, this group of young witches and wizards chose who got challenged next by spinning an empty butterbeer bottle. With the challenges they stuck to things that were either greatly temporary or didn't need a living target, but there were things that Meega had never dreamed of being done before her very eyes.

Tinea, for example, had just organized a table and chairs on the ceiling. The 'tea party' she'd set up functioned completely without humans, the tea and cakes apparently being devoured by the air residing in the chairs. Now it was Tinea's turn to spin the bottle.

It stopped on Meega. The girl studied the American for a moment, pushing her mouse-brown hair out of her eyes, and smiled. "Change the Malfoy Crest," she motioned to the wall behind her, "to your family crest. And back, mind—the house elves would most likely spontaneously combust if you left it."

Meega considered the enameled wall behind Lucius and Narcissa's chairs, turning her wand over between her fingers. She did have a family crest, and she even knew what it looked like, but the only rendering she'd seen of it was a banner her mother had made for a family reunion. As for how to do it, the only time something like had happened that she knew of was in the first book of Harry Potter . . ..

Grinning, Meega tucked her wand behind her ear and walked up to the wall, placing her hands on it firmly. The wall seemed to groan in protest as she changed the crest, though no sound was made. First, a blue background spread from the places her hands contacted the wall. The blue was overlaid with an ornate white shield, a gold helmet with red wings at the top. The center of the shield was given over to a lit candle, a sheaf of wheat to the right and a crescent over a griffin to the left. Under the shield a pale blue ribbon unfurled, dark blue letters appearing to proclaim "Faith Feareth Not." Meega stepped back to admire her handy work, a great many of the others gaping.

"How'd you do that?"

Meega grinned. "Wandless Magic. I was learning it in the States. Now if you'll excuse me . . .." Replacing her hands on the wall, she touched the wall with a bit of magic and it reverted to the Malfoy Crest with an almost audible sigh of relief.

And she spun the bottle. It landed on a boy who's name she hadn't learned. "Hmm . . . Truth Spell. On Draco. I'll check its effectiveness."

Draco raised an eyebrow at his lady, but nodded at the boy. He tried.

"Try to lie to me, Draco. What color are my eyes?"

"The most stunning sapphire I've ever seen."

Meega grinned impishly at the boy. "Now, what scares you?"

**Part 55 – Narcissa**

"I suppose you'll do for a few months," Narcissa said appraisingly. Meega had found that when Draco's mother wasn't having vapors, she was really quite sensible and sometimes even pleasant company. "I may wish we could teach you everything now—or, better yet, that you had learned everything as a child as you ought to have—but you'll do until there is time."

Meega chanced a smile. "It's only two and a half months. I can survive that long on my own without shaming the family too much. Besides, Draco will watch out for me."

Narcissa smiled slightly, her lips curving minimally. "You are a bright child. You'll be good for my son. Lucius might not see it, but you make Draco think about the consequences of his choices. It's good for him."

"Does your husband actually _want_ Draco to think?"

"Yes and no," Narcissa admitted. "He wants the boy to think for himself, but still grow up to be exactly like him."

"Having children grow up exactly like their parents would be very bad for society. Besides, it would be so _dull_. One's sisters would be exactly like she was."

Narcissa gave a reticent little laugh. "That is true. You really are coming along quite nicely. Hurry now—we must leave for the station in half an hour."

Meega left Narcissa's solar, heading to her own room. She and Narcissa weren't really comfortable with each other yet, but she liked Narcissa well enough, and Narcissa approved of her. A working relationship—maybe even friendship—could develop, with a little work on both sides.

Smiling softly to herself, Meega slipped into her room. She'd be spending the summer here. She could spend more time with Narcissa then.

**Part 56 – Returning to Hogwarts**

"Woah."

"What?"

"This." Draco handed Meega a newspaper, eyes traveling to the necklace she hadn't removed since he'd gifted her with it. "I'm even happier that I gave that to you now."

Meega smiled, turning to the newspaper article. What she saw wiped the smile off her face.

**MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN  
MINISTRY FEARS BLACK IS "RALLYING POINT"  
FOR OLD DEATH EATERS**

Nine wizards and a witch decorated the page. She recognized some of the names.

The Lestranges.

Augustus Rookwook.

Death Eaters. Nine of them, including the only female Death Eater, had escaped from Azkaban. "Does this mean what I think it means?"

"That the Dark Lord has gained control of the dementors? Yes."

"He's growing bolder."

"The fact that no one believes he had returned is one of his greatest assets. Sirius makes the perfect scapegoat, but some people will figure out that Dumbledore's been telling the truth all along."

"Some, but not most," Meega said bitterly.

"True."

"Well. I do hope Morrigan has the sense to focus more on things that people will need to know how to face in the future."

"She's so astute that it's eerie. I don't doubt that she will."

"Neither do I, really. But it scares me, Drace. He's back. He has the dementors. How long can it take for all-out war to begin?"

"I don't know, Mia. But I promise you that whatever happens I'll do my best to protect you."


	15. Blowing in the Wind

_**Chapter 15 – Blowing in the Wind**_

**Part 57 – Bird and Wolf**

"You _both_ transformed over the break? That means only Harry and I haven't!"

"Yep! I'm a Black Wolf and Hermione is a wren!"

"Huh. I guess I'll have to meditate more. I didn't really have time over the holiday, between homework, etiquette with Narcissa, and the most insanely formal meals I've ever attended."

"Those were perfectly normal meals!" Draco objected. "Well, the first night was much more casual than usual."

"You just keep thinking that, Drace," Meega muttered.

The Slytherin pair had met with the Gryffindors the first chance they had found after returning to Hogwarts. It shouldn't have surprised Meega that the other two girls had transformed over the two-week break, but it did. She hadn't managed to find any free time to meditate, and she hadn't expected the others to, either.

"Why was Narcissa teaching you etiquette?" Mione asked.

"So I don't tarnish the Malfoy family name or honor. Lucius ordered me to stay there this summer so that she can continue my lessons with the help of some professional tutors."

Mione let out a low whistle. "You mean you're going to be stuck at Malfoy Manor all summer?"

"I doubt I'll be stuck there. Narcissa already told me that she has some places she wants to take me so that she can show me off. Well, let's see it."

"See what?"

"You two transform." Mione looked at Hermione, who transformed into a wren with a faint 'pop.' Then Mione changed into her Animagus form, grinning a wolf's grin at her schoolmates. "Well. That's all but two of us done."

**Part 58 – Career Advice**

With the O.W.L.s fast approaching, each student had an appointment with his or her Head of House to discuss their career choice. Meega was looking forward to the chance to speak to Professor Snape, but she didn't really have a career choice. None of the pamphlets that had been set out in the common room really appealed to her. She didn't want to be a Healer, or a Professor, or a professional Quidditch player, or anything else presented in the leaflets. Really, there had only ever been one thing that had appealed to her to do the rest of her life. Unfortunately, she doubted Professor Snape would have much advice on that subject. Or be particularly comfortable with it.

"Miss Kyl-Derc. No doubt you have something outstanding chosen for yourself."

Meega smiled a little sheepishly at the Potions Master's rare compliment. "Well, _I_ think it's perfect for me, but I doubt most people would consider it outstanding." She paused, feeling a little foolish.

"Yes?" the Professor prompted.

Meega blushed faintly. "Well . . . to be completely honest, Professor, I want to get married and have children."

Professor Snape's eyebrows sought his hairline momentarily before, astonishingly, he smiled broadly. "While that is a common enough answer from those of my pupils with arranged marriages about what they're _going_ to do, I had not expected it from you. From what I have seen in my classes and the comments of my colleagues you could do anything you want."

"But this _is_ what I want to do, Professor. I might write some, but what I really want is a husband, and children, and a home."

Still smiling, Professor Snape nodded. Meega was more than a little confused by this turn of events—she had expected the Professor to be uncomfortable and disappointed with her 'lack of ambition.' But this! There was no way in her wildest imaginings that Meega could have been prepared for this. "You will make an excellent mother, Miss Kyl-Derc. Much better than you would a Ministry official, for example. Give me a moment . . .." The Professor opened one of his desk drawers and shuffled through the papers, searching for something. After a moment he pulled a sheet of paper out and handed it to Meega. "This is a list of the suggested N.E.W.T. level classes suggested for those whose plans involve motherhood rather than a career," he told her, his cool façade returning. "Do you have any questions?"

Meega quickly glanced over her list, "Why is Arithmancy suggested? Isn't is just a numeric form of Divination?"

"Unlike Divination, Arithmancy is actually applicable to life. Even if you never use the divining attributes of the study, it teaches you to solve problems. You will need that skill both raising children and managing a household."

Meega nodded, folding the paper neatly and tucking it away. "Well, then, I suppose that's everything."

Professor Snape nodded. "If you would be kind enough to send in Miss Parkinson? I believe she is next in line."

**Part 59 – Change**

_Concentrate, Meega! Concentrate!_

Try as she might, Meega was failing miserably at her meditation. April was already turning to May, but she and Harry had yet to transform and there was no longer time nor a reason for mass meditation sessions.

Sighing, Meega flipped onto her stomach. There was no way she was going to get anywhere, and she only had twenty-six more cranes to make. Enough of Draco's black paper was in her bag to finish that project, at least.

After making nine hundred and seventy-four paper cranes, Meega didn't have to think about it. By the time she'd started her third crane, her hands had fallen into the repetitive motion of the origami and her mind had slipped into the now-familiar patterns of meditation.

_Twenty to go . . ._

_Fifteen._

_Ten._

_Nine._

_Eight._

_Seven._

_Six._

_Five._

_Four._

_Three._

_Two._

_One thousand paper cranes._

Grinning, Meega sat back on her heals. Twenty-six here, and the rest back in her dorm. She'd make her wish when she got back.

Before she could move to gather her cranes, a white-hot burst of pain erupted between her shoulder blades and flashed down her spine. Meega screamed and kept screaming as she felt something sprout from her shoulders and her spine extended downward inch by excruciating inch. Then something snapped, and the blistering pain burned Meega, still screaming, into the black.

**Part 60 – One of Mine**

Therin jolted from his near-doze at the sound of Meega's scream. "You!" he snapped at the inhabitant of the canvas across the corridor. The little girl jumped, half her flowers spilling from her basket and planting themselves to be picked again. "Go, child, and fetch the headmaster, the matron, and the Head of Slytherin House! Quickly!" The girl stared for a moment, eyes wide, and then bolted from her frame to complete her task.

"Why are you so worked up? The girl has _said_ she's Muggleborn. Your house will be rid of that _defilement_ if she dies."

"Your hat doesn't make mistakes, Godric," the dark-haired boy said stiffly. "Lady Meega is one of mine, and I always have and always will look out for my own. And, for your information, in her case it is splitting hairs as to whether she's Muggleborn or her blood is more pure than young master Malfoy's."

Three figures came hurdling around the corner, the black haired man leaning the older man and the matron by a good distance.

"Quickly," Therin said, "Lady Meega is in need." The portrait swung open, and Severus Snape strode in. When the other two tried to enter, they were blocked as if by and invisible wall. "Godric, Rowena, I have no time for your games!"

"There are laws for this room, Salazar," Helga reminded him. "Godric and Rowena are under no obligation to let their students in—just as you kept your students from entering when they wished you to allow it."

"Helga!"

"Salazar. Be calm. Your pupil will bring her out."

A moment later, Severus exited with Meega and her book bag. As the portrait swung shut, her gave the four there an odd look. Getting his student to the Hospital Wing was more urgent than interrogating the founders, and so he tucked Meega's broken glasses into a pocket and started off in that direction. Poppy and Albus followed him, the former twittering like a silly bird, and Severus tried not pay too much attention to the wings and tail that now graced Meega's form. He tried not to look at the golden glow coming from behind her lashes and half-closed eyelids at all.

Meega was powerful, competent, and intelligent. She had demonstrated as much on numerous occasions. What could she have been attempting that would lead to an accident like this?


	16. Care Prevents a Number of Mistakes

_**Chapter 16 – Care Prevents a Number of Mistakes**_

**Part 61 – Be Careful What You Wish For**

Meega woke slowly, feeling oddly uncomfortable. She was laying on her side; as her arm was asleep, she felt it safe to deduce that she had been laying on her side for quite some time. Groaning faintly, she pulled her arm out from under her body. Then she opened her eyes.

With a yelp, Meega shut her eyes faster than she ever had before, pulling her pillow over her head. She'd always had photosensitive eyes, but the whole room seemed to shine. It was brighter than anything she'd ever experienced before.

"Are you all right, Miss Kyl-Derc?"

"Professor Snape? I'm fine, mostly. It's just very, very bright in here."

"Poppy thought that might be your reaction." He snapped, the sound followed by momentary hissing and rustling. "Is that better?"

Meega peaked out from under her pillow. The room was now reasonably lighted, though still brighter than she would have chosen herself. "Much, thank you." She shifted, propping herself up on one elbow as she attempted to work some feeling back into the other arm. "What happened? Last thing I remember, I'd just finished my last paper crane, and I _hurt_ all of a sudden."

Professor Snape gave her an odd look. "There were no paper cranes when I arrived. We—Albus, Poppy, and I—were sent for by a portrait of Salazar Slytherin."

"_What?_"

His face shifted slightly into what could have been a smile or a grimace. "You know him as Therin."

"Therin is—" her eyes widened. "But then Ric must be Godric Gryffindor! And Wena and El . . .."

"Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff, yes."

Meega shook her head in shock and disbelief. "He would flirt with me every time we went down there. And he's Salazar Slytherin? I was under the impression he was kind of old and ugly."

"I believe he was—when he got old. As a young man, he was as you know him." He cleared his throat, obviously less-than-comfortable with the subject. "Poppy says that, as near as she can tell, your condition is a result of an attempted Animagus transformation and wish-magic reacting poorly with each other."

"My . . . condition?" Meega reached tentatively to feel her back; she remembered the burning pain all too well. "Professor, do I have . . . wings? And . . . and a tail?" He nodded shortly. "Is this . . . permanent?"

"I'm afraid so. However, Poppy believes the wings and tail are retractable. Your eyes, she said, should adjust with time."

Meega nodded. "I have to learn control."

"It appears so. I don't suppose you would be inclined to enlighten me as to how you managed to get yourself into this predicament?"

Despite the state she was in, Meega couldn't help but smile at the perturbed look on the Professor's face, so unlike any expression she'd seen there before. "We—_I_ was trying to become an Animagus. Except _something_ wasn't right and I couldn't transform. It's a very delicate process that takes a lot of meditation and the correct mental and physical state to allow the change to occur. I was trying to meditate, but I couldn't concentrate and I so decided to finish my thousand paper cranes, as I only had twenty-six to go. Do you know the legend about them granting wishes?" Professor Snape nodded, and she launched into an explanation of what had happened, the Professor occasionally interrupting with questions. Mostly, he just let her talk, disbelief etched on his face.

**Part 62 – O.W.L.s**

A week later the O.W.L.s had arrived. Meega still had wings and a tail, and she had to wear very strong sunglasses to be able to stand 'normal' lighting, but Madam Pomfrey grudgingly let her leave the Hospital Wing for her exams. Even with the sunglasses, when Meega entered the Great hall for her Charms written exam the first morning it was almost uncomfortably bright. The written exam was much like those she had taken in class; that afternoon was the Charms practical.

"I say, my dear, what happened?"

Meega shrugged irritably, already annoyed by the light and her year mates ogling her wings. "I found out first hand what sort of thing can happen if you accidentally mix magics."

The old witch nodded sympathetically. "Accidents do happen. Now, take this lovely little goblet and have it do somersaults. That's a good girl."

The next day, in her Transfiguration practical, she was very tempted to just stick her wand behind her ear and do without it. But she used it, and she was quite sure she'd done well enough to pass.

Herbology was shockingly easy. She liked plants well enough, and she'd spent a great deal of time partnered with Neville. He may have been clumsy and unconfident to the point of incompetence in most classes, but he was an absolute genius in Herbology.

Thursday brought Defense Against the Dark Arts. The written exam was nothing to worry about, and the practical was shockingly basic. She started when Harry produced a Patronous—apparently he'd been asked to do in for bonus—but as her examiner had stopped to watch the stag, it made no difference.

"Now, Miss Kyl-Derc, I think that's it," ancient Professor Tofty said when Meega had faced her boggart. "Unless . . . I'll give you the same chance as was given Miss Green, eh? I heard you studied Wandless Magic in the States before transferring to Hogwarts. I could give you a bonus, if you can demonstrate its use defensively."

Meega grinned. Wandless Magic was a gift from her 'trip' to the world she now resided in. "I believe I can, sir." She placed her wand on the desk in front of him and spread her arms, forming a shield-dome over herself. "Shielding is one of the most important skills in Wandless defense. The other is . . . this." She snapped, and her wand leapt to her hand. "At my old school, we weren't allowed our own wands until our final year, but we practiced with school wands. It's important to know when to use a wand and when not to."

"Well done Miss Kyl-Derc! Go on, you're done."

Meega's next exam wasn't until the next Monday, when they had Potions. Since that was Meega's favorite subject, it proved to be the easiest exam yet. She breezed through her written exam, and then made her potion that afternoon with no problem. Neville had a slight mishap, but thanks to Morrigan's lesson he was able to correct it in time.

Tuesday brought Care of Magical Creatures, which was simple enough. Wednesday brought the Astronomy written exam in the morning, the Divination practical in the afternoon as well as the Arithmancy written exam Meega was taking by choice, and the Astronomy practical that night. Meega felt that she had passed Astronomy—though by how much was questionable. In Divination, however, she was fairly certain her examiner had caught her bluffs. The extensive Numerology unit dragged from her 'memories' of lessons from her old school was sufficient to (in her opinion) to gain her a passing score on her Arithmancy exam.

On Thursday they had their last exam, History of Magic. Meega was almost positive she had mixed all the goblin rebellions together, though she thought she had managed to keep the rest of it straight. Though she was fairly certain that a Welsh Green had nothing to do with Liechtenstein, whatever she'd said . . ..

And, finally, they were free—all except Meega, who was still living in the Hospital Wing. No more O.W.L.s, and they didn't have to think about them again until their results came in July.

**Part 63 – A Trip to Hogsmeade**

"Hey, Mia."

"Long time no see, Mione."

"O.W.L.s, and you were in the Hospital Wing with Madam Pomfrey keeping everyone out."

"I know."

The two friends walked in silence, not sure what to say any more. They'd both changed over the past year. The three weeks since taking their O.W.L.s, Meega had managed to get control of her newly-changed body. Her wings and tail were, indeed, retractable. Her eyes had three 'settings,' including her human eyes, though she no longer needed glasses, and diurnal and nocturnal settings of her gold eyes with their cat-like slit pupils—they glowed an eerie gold in night vision better than an owl's.

"Harry finally transformed," Mione said, more to have something to say than anything. "Just after we finished our O.W.L.s"

"What is he?"

"A Kestrel."

"Huh. Why'd we decided to come up to Hogsmeade together?"

"Something about us not spending enough time together, especially since you're staying at Malfoy Manor this summer and I've been invited to stay at the Burrow."

"Ah. That would be it."

"Yep."

They fell silent again. A year ago, they would have been chattering non-stop. The difference was painfully evident.

"Hey, how about we go up to the Shrieking Shack?"

"Let me stop and pick something up on the way."

"What?"

"Draco's birthday present. It's late because of my extended stay in the Hospital Wing."

"Ah."

They were silent the rest of the way to the shop, and Meega ducked in to pick up her present for her boyfriend. When she rejoined her friend, her package tucked neatly away, she tipped her head to the side, grinning at Mione. "You know, we haven't really talked in _months_."

"I suppose that's because you live in the dungeons and I live in the tower."

"And we wonder why Slytherins and Gryffindors never become friends."

"Besides the fact that most Slytherins are gits?"

"Well, most Gryffindors are self-righteous prats, so we're even. I was referring to the fact that they'd almost never see each other."

Mione grinned. "Yeah, that might be it."

"Which part?"

"Either."

The two Americans topped the hill and froze. Standing in front of the Shrieking Shack as though they had been waiting for the girls were six Death Eaters.

"Oh, look, the wee babies are surprised to see us!" cooed a sickeningly sweet female voice.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," Meega hissed. If she had possessed hackles, they would have been rising. Draco's aunt, the only female Death Eater, had a distinct feeling of _wrongness_ about her.

"Oh, it recognizes me! Do I sound that much like my dear sister, little baby girl?"

Meega hissed again, and this time there were no words involved. She was reacting to Bellatrix like a wild animal would have a rabid predator. Before she knew what was happening, Meega was sprouting wings and a tail, her eyes turning gold and her pupils constricting for a second before relaxing into the slit shape of a cat's pupil. "Run, Mione!"

Mione didn't need to be told twice. She ran, collapsing into her smaller, fleeter, and more dangerous Animagus form mid-stride. Meega ignored the Death Eaters chasing Mione, ignored her fleeing friend, and faced the four focused on her. Four—that meant Mione only had to deal with two.

As the Death Eaters advanced, Meega flapped once. Powerful wings combined with now-hollow bones allowed that single motion to take her above the Death Eaters' heads.

"Look, the bity baby thinks she's a bird! We know how to deal with birds, don't we?"

"Naturally," one of the others said, his voice too smooth for comfort. "You just clip their wings."

And inexplicable terror rose in Meega at that statement. Suddenly panicking, she flapped frantically in an attempt to escape, her tail lashing wildly. She was darting around like a trapped bird, unable to think past the fact that a well-placed severing charm could ground her permanently.

_Flee! Flee! Flee!_

Suddenly, cords wrapped around her, pinning her wings painfully to her body.

_TRAPPED!_

Meega screeched, the noise completely inhuman as she flailed against her bonds.

_FEAR! TRAPPED!_

Then something connected with the back of her head, and Meega was thrust into blackness.

**Part 64 – In the Dungeon of Lord Voldemort**

Meega came to slowly, registering first that what ever she was lying on was very hard and she was in a highly uncomfortable position. She tried to move and felt cords. Fear threatened to overtake her again as memory came crashing back.

She blinked, and her eyes instantly adjusted to the total darkness of her cell. She was laying on a stone floor, facing a featureless stone wall. She still wore her bag, from the feel of things, and she doubted they had bothered to search it. So, she still had her wand as well. Of course, she couldn't reach it—but she didn't really need to.

A moment's concentration sliced the cords binding her like butter, and Meega stood. She was stiff and sore from being in the same painful position for so long, but a moment later she had retracted her wings and tail and repaired her clothing where they had broken through. Then she went for the lock.

The door wouldn't open, even under the most insistent magical urgings. Meega pursed her lips in frustration, then turned to the wall she had woken facing. If she couldn't get the door open, she'd go out through the wall. It would probably take them longer to notice than if she used the door, anyway, as long as she didn't make too much noise. With a bit of magic and concentration, the mortar between the stones crumbled and the stones themselves rearranged themselves into a neat doorway. Meega hurried through, replacing the stones behind her as to not leave as obvious a trail. Then she got a good look at the torch lit chamber she had entered and froze.

Staring at her from a huge marble throne was Lord Voldemort.


	17. A Guest at the Manor

_**Chapter 17 – A Guest at the Manor**_

**Part 65 – Lord Voldemort**

The fluttering-bird terror that had overpowered her earlier threatened to overtake Meega again at the sight of Lord Voldemort's serpentine features. Closing her eyes, she swallowed, trying to suppress it. This was an even worse time to panic than when faced by four Death Eaters.

"I sent you after two girls. You brought me _one_. Has your time in Azkaban made you so incompetent that you cannot capture two children for me?"

"The other girl is an Animagus, Master. She changes into a small Black Wolf. Karkaroff and Avery went after her. They failed to capture her."

The simpering tone of her voice very nearly made Meega gag. No one should be that obsequious. Voldemort treated her like a favorite pet, and she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she seemed pleased when he patted her head.

"It will be harder to capture her now. I _do_ wish to speak with her, Bella." He paused, smiling cruelly at Meega. "Since she is here, bring Miss Kyl-Derc to me. Gently, Bella. Remember that she is my guest."

Bellatrix smiled viciously at Meega, closing her arm in an almost-painful grip and pulling her forward to stand before the Dark Lord.

"Meega Ororo Kyl-Derc," Voldemort acknowledged. "I have heard so much about you from Lucius." His lipless mouth curved into a sick effigy of a smile. "He worries about how attached to you his heir has become."

"Somehow I'm not surprised," Meega retorted blandly. "Lord Voldemort, I presume."

"Another who dares to call me by my name . . . I have heard reports of your foolish bravery."

"Again, I'm not surprised. Death Eaters' children are far from uncommon in Slytherin. At least some of them have to report to their parents. A Slytherin transferring into the school in her fifth year and calling herself a Muggleborn is something that would be both noticed and mentioned. In some sense, I am—just as the Muggleborns, I bring new blood and new ideas to the Wizarding World. As for calling you by your name . . . I have never dared to do that. I doubt, somehow, that any except for Albus Dumbledore himself would dare to call you by the name you were born with . . .the name of your Muggle father."

Bellatrix's slap snapped Meega's head to the side. "How _dare_ you address the Dark Lord so! How dare you speak such blasphemies!"

"She is my guest, Bella. You cannot go around slapping my guests. As she obviously suspected, I know all about Meega's origins. Such ignorance of the truth I have taught you are to be expected."

"Truth?" Meega snapped. "What truth would that be? I know something of what you would have people believe. That there is nothing but power and weakness. That nothing is worse than death. That blood is all-important—when you yourself are a half-blood. None of these things are even close to the truth. I have personally seen proof that they are lies."

To Meega's surprise, Voldemort threw back his head and laughed.

**Part 66 – Reason #2 Not to Date a Death Eater's Son**

The next morning Bellatrix arrived to drag Meega from the well-furnished room she'd been locked in the night before to face Voldemort once more. This time they were to talk over a breakfast as formal as the ones Meega had attended at Malfoy Manor. The only reason she ate anything at all was because she knew Voldemort was blatantly obvious about killing people. Poison just wasn't his style.

"Your sister has done well with the child, Bella. Lucius reported that she was completely uncultured when she was introduced to him."

Meega concentrated on her breakfast, attempting to ignore Voldemort and Bellatrix discussing her over theirs.

:Kassan:

Meega paused for a fraction of a second, a bite halfway to her mouth, then hastily put it there. Hopefully, Voldemort had either not noticed her hesitation or took it for a reaction to something in the conversation she was the topic of. :Assina! You're all right, aren't you baby:

:I am unhurt, Kassan. I should have been there:

:Slow down, love.: Meega paused, swallowing and taking another bite. :I've been kidnapped, but I'm in no immediate danger. Voldemort is trying to recruit me. He also seems to be checking to see if I'm worthy to become a Malfoy.:

:How would you do that: Assina seemed genuinely confused, and Meega had to concentrate on not laughing and choking on her food.

:If a man and a woman want to have children together, they get married. Being married to someone means that you'll love them and stay with them for the rest of your life, as equal partners. Then the woman takes the man's name. So if I married Draco, then I'd be Meega Ororo Malfoy instead of Meega Ororo Kyl-Derc.:

:Why:

Meega smiled slightly between bites. :It's tradition, Assina. Now, I want you to stay with Draco. He'll take care of you. I'm very sure that Voldemort will send me back in one piece. I doubt he's going to want to keep supplying food, clothing, and shelter for a girl that won't do him any good for two years. Not for any length of time.:

:Two years:

:Well, a little over one year, technically, I suppose. You can't do magic outside of school until you're seventeen, and doing so is generally frowned upon before you finish school.:

:Oh.: There was a slight pause. :I will go to Salzari's Father Draco.:

:Good girl. I love you, sweety.:

:Ai Shiteru, Kassan.: The contact between Meega's mind and Assina's dimmed slightly, returning to its normal level. Meega sighed, returning her full attention to her meal. Voldemort and Bellatrix were still talking, but after a moment they stopped. Meega was painfully aware of the fact that they were both now focused on watching her.

Taking another bite, Meega suppressed the urge to sigh again. As much as she disliked spending time in Voldemort's presence, and as edgy as Bellatrix made her feel, Meega wanted them to tell Lucius that she was suitable for his son.

**Part 67 – Proof of Good Will**

At dinner on the third day of Meega's enforced stay at the manor with Voldemort, the Dark Lord actually addressed his 'guest.' "Tomorrow morning after breakfast you will be returned to Hogsmeade." Meega's head jerked up in surprise when he spoke to her, then nodded slightly. "I will communicate with you over the summer."

"I will have to accept that," Meega said lightly. She was on edge; she had heard Karkaroff and Avery screaming the night before as they had been punished for failing to capture Mione. They had been put under the Cruciatus Curse, and Karkaroff (who had been far from being in the Dark Lord's good graces before their recent failure) had been killed. "I cannot stop you from sending me letters."

"I am just interested in helping you, Meega. You and your friend could be great, and I can help you on your way to greatness."

Meega raised an eyebrow slightly, and gave a trifling nod. That had been carefully aimed to play on her Slytherin traits—and it wouldn't work on her. Voldemort had no desire to help her. He just wanted to use her.

The next morning Bellatrix was assigned to take her back to Hogsmeade, and left her up by the Shrieking Shack. Four days after she had been taken from the same spot, Meega headed back to Hogwarts. No sooner did she come into sight of the castle than teachers and students started pouring out to meet her. Draco was the first to reach her, and in front of the whole school he pulled her into a desperate crushing embrace and gave her a quick fierce kiss.

"I was so worried about you," he murmured, still holding her close. "Assina told me where you were through Salzari just before Mione collapsed on the front steps. The whole castle knew you'd been taken within an hour of her return."

"I'm fine, Draco, the worst that happened to me was Bellatrix slapping me." She didn't mention hearing the screams of the Death Eaters being punished. "He wants to turn Mione and I. He said he'd communicate with me over the summer. I don't like the look of things."

"Neither do I, Meega," Draco muttered back, his forehead creased slightly in worry.

"Miss Kyl-Derc, are you all right?" Professor McGonagall asked, clutching at her heart.

"I'm fine, Professor."

"We feared the worst when Miss Green returned," Professor Snape said smoothly. He had obviously known what was going on before she had; this had been something that it would have hurt more than helped to stop. "I believe Madam Pomfrey will want to look you over, and the Ministry will undoubtedly want a statement."

Meega nodded. "I understand, Professor. Let's see Madam Pomfrey first. She'll be very upset, otherwise."

**Part 68 – Girl Talk**

"There are all sorts of rumors about you and Draco after your display last week," Mione teased. The train jerked, knocking over her card house, and she scowled at it for a moment.

"He's never touched you in public before that," Hermione noted. "Except dancing at the ball, of course. And I think he's helped you up a couple of times. Then he goes and does _that_ . . .."

Meega shrugged, blushing faintly. "It got out that I'm spending the summer at Malfoy Manor, and that probably doesn't help matters. What they don't know is that our rooms are on opposite ends of the manor, and positioned so that we'd have to go past his parents' room to get to either one. Besides, Draco's a perfect gentleman—and you're staying at the Burrow, Mione!"

"In Ginny's room. With Fred and George between Ron and I. Besides, we're a much more _normal_ couple."

"You two act like you've stepped out of a fairy story."

Meega shook her head, grinning at the other two girls in their little group. "As I said, Draco's a perfect gentleman—and I have no desire to change that. It's very nice."

"I'm sure it is. Ron can be a prat."

"And Harry has a tendency to get . . . distracted. I don't mind _that_, though. _Someone_ has to so what he does, and who else would?"

"Someone would have to." The train was slowing. "Mione, you're never going to get that thing any taller than two layers. Not on the train—especially not since we're almost to the station."

Mione stuck her tongue out at Meega, but put her cards away. A few minutes later the train stopped, and they got off and rejoined the boys. They said their good-byes and the others joined the adults who were taking them home for the summer. Meega and Draco walked together to meet Lucius and Narcissa where they were waiting for them, and Meega met Lucius' sneer with a smile.


End file.
